Paris (Reuters) -Sanofi (NASDAQ: SNY) said on Monday that a newer version of the COVID-19 vaccine candidate it is working on with GSK might protect against the virus’s most dangerous strains, such as the Omicron BA.1 and BA.2 strains, when used as a booster shot.
The first experimental COVID shot from the two companies is being looked at by the European Medicines Agency. In the meantime, Sanofi and GSK have kept working on a vaccine based on the now-defunct Beta variant, still hoping that it will offer broad protection against future changes in the virus.
Sanofi said that when this new vaccine candidate was given to trial participants who had already had an initial course of mRNA vaccines, made by BioNTech-Pfizer and Moderna, it was shown to significantly boost antibody levels against a number of variants of concern (NASDAQ: MRNA).
In a separate test done by a network of French hospitals, Sanofi’s Beta-adapted booster shot gave people who had already been vaccinated a stronger immune response than either Sanofi’s first-generation shot or Pfizer-established BioNTech’s vaccine.
The head of Sanofi’s vaccine business, Thomas Triomphe, said, “The Beta variant shows similar mutations across multiple variants of concern, including Omicron.” This makes it a strong candidate for a vaccine that would protect against multiple strains of COVID-19. “
The ValnevaGroup said on Friday that it was in talks to try to save a supply agreement that the European Commission had cancelled. It said this to show how important it is for vaccine makers to deal with new variants of concern in a COVID vaccine market that is already full.
Like the most popular first-generation shots from BioNTech-Pfizer and Moderna, Valneva’s product is based on the original virus found in the Chinese city of Wuhan.