A coronavirus vaccine hopeful invested in by the British Government was dealt a devastating blow today as manufacturers revealed it won’t be done until late 2021.
Clinical trials of the jab by GlaxoSmithKline and French company Sanofi showed that their jab did not appear to work well in middle-aged and elderly people.
These are the ones most at risk of dying from Covid-19 and therefore are a key group for any vaccine-maker to target. Full clinical trial information has not been published by the manufacturers said they were unhappy with the early results.
The UK in July secured 60million doses of the prospective treatment, but it was today announced that any jab will likely not be ready before the end of 2021.
It puts a dent in hopes that a more conventional vaccine could be developed to fight the pandemic.
Britain is currently rolling out the Pfizer/BioNTech shot, which uses cutting-edge technology but needs to be stored at ultra-low temperatures – throwing up a series of logistical problems in storing and distributing the jab.
GSK’s vaccine is based on the existing technology used to produce Sanofi’s seasonal flu vaccine, so should have been a reliable option for investors.
But the phase two trials – ones that look for an immune response before testing whether the jab actually protects against coronavirus – have not gone well.
An employee works on a production line at the factory of British multinational pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) in Saint-Amand-les-Eaux, northern France
The UK in July secured 60million doses of the treatment, but any jab will now not likely be ready before the end of 2021
Genetic material from the surface protein of the Covid virus is inserted into insect cells – the basis of Sanofi’s influenza product – and then injected to provoke an immune response in a human patient.
Pfizer’s approved vaccine, for comparison, was shown to be more than 94 per cent effective in adults over 65.
Elderly people are more vulnerable to Covid, and disease in general, because as the body ages the immune system becomes weaker and slower to respond.
People with underlying health conditions or on immunosuppressant drugs such as chemotherapy are also at greater risk.
Sanofi and GSK said they planned to launch another study next year, hoping to come up with a more effective vaccine.
The French drugmaker said today’s results showed ‘an immune response comparable to patients who recovered from COVID-19 in adults aged 18 to 49 years, but a low immune response in older adults likely due to an insufficient concentration of the antigen.’
Sanofi said it would launch a phase 2b study in February of next year instead after a recent challenge study in non-human primates performed with an improved antigen formulation demonstrated better effects.
It said: ‘The study will include a proposed comparison with an authorized COVID-19 vaccine.
‘If data are positive, a global Phase III study could start in Q2 2021. Positive results from this study would lead to regulatory submissions in the second half of 2021, hence delaying the vaccine’s potential availability from mid-2021 to Q4 2021.’
An employee works on the tanks which will be used for the manufacture of the adjuvant in the Covid-19 vaccines, at the factory of British multinational pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline in Saint-Amand-les-Eaux, northern France
The two companies said they had ‘updated governments and the European Commission where a contractual commitment to purchase the vaccine has been made.’
The Government has ordered 40million doses of the Pfizer jab and the first were administered to the over-80s in hospitals this week.
It has also bought 7million doses of the Moderna vaccine and 100million of the much-anticipated Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, both of which are awaiting approval.
UK ministers will now pin their hopes on Oxford University’s vaccine, which also uses traditional vaccine technology and is easier to store and transport than Pfizer’s.
Oxford’s jab is a viral vector vaccine which uses a genetically modified weakened form of the common cold which trains the body to be able to fight Covid-19.
Viral vector vaccines – used to immunise people against HPV and meningitis – are tried and tested and scientists have a better idea of their safety profiles.
Oxford’s jab can be stored in a normal medical fridge and batches can be split into smaller amounts and delivered to smaller sites such as care homes, which was not possible with Pfizer’s.
Britain’s regulator is reviewing the vaccine and is expected to give it approval in the coming days or weeks.
