EU Watchdog Endorses Sanofi Covid Booster Jabs

The European Medicines Agency’s (EMA) approval of the ‘next generation’ jab is a blow to Sanofi and GSK, which are lagging rivals in providing vaccines.

VidPrevtyn beta jab could potentially be used as a booster in adults who have previously received an mRNA jab like Pfizer/Biontech or Moderna, or a viral vector vaccine made by AstraZeneca or Johnson & Johnson, the EMA said. I’m here.

“A booster dose of VidPrevtyn Beta is expected to be at least as effective as Comirnaty (Pfizer’s vaccine) in restoring protection against Covid-19,” said the Amsterdam-based EMA. .

A trial of 162 adults who received the Sanofi-GSK booster showed increased antibody production against the Omicron BA.1 variant compared to Pfizer’s jab, the regulator said.

In a second study, the first injection restored immunity in 627 adults who received other vaccines.

Sanofi said it was ready to begin the first shipments of boosters in the UK and EU, in line with a pre-contract for 70 million doses.

Thomas Triomphe, Executive Vice President, Vaccines, Sanofi, said:

The vaccine combines antigens developed by Sanofi based on beta-variants that stimulate the production of bactericidal antibodies and GSK’s adjuvant technology, substances that enhance the immune response triggered by the vaccine.

– The end of a long road –

Sanofi and GSK developed Jab while awaiting regulatory approval of a first-generation vaccine.

The approval marks the end of Sanofi’s long road to bring a Covid vaccine to market. The French pharmaceutical giant, considered a global leader in vaccines, has received a lot of domestic attention for failing to deploy its Covid jab early.

The company promised to produce a billion doses of the vaccine in 2021, but a dosage issue during clinical trials sent researchers back to the drawing board. It also attempted to develop a vaccine based on mRNA technology, but abandoned that plan as well.

Despite the struggles, Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna brought a vaccine to market faster than ever before. Both vaccines were approved almost two years before Sanofi’s breakthrough on Thursday.

Sanofi Chairman Serge Weinberg said at the shareholders’ meeting in May:

Sanofi has finally managed to get approval for its Covid vaccine, but questions remain about how much demand remains in an already crowded market.

Last week, frontrunner Pfizer raised its annual vaccine sales forecast to $36 billion on the back of new booster deals.

Moderna, meanwhile, has cut its sales projections for its vaccine by $2 billion to $3 billion due to shipment delays.

On Thursday, French-Austrian biotech Valneva said it would cut its workforce by up to a quarter.

Valneva became the first French company to obtain an EMA-approved Covid vaccine in June. However, it halted production a month later after the EU cut his original order of 60 million doses to just 1.25 million doses.

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