The British pharmaceutical group AstraZeneca said it had found “the winning formula” to improve the COVID-19 vaccine developed with Oxford University.
The British laboratory announced in November that its vaccine was on average 70% effective in clinical trials, compared with more than 90% for Pfizer / BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, which have already been authorized to use. in several countries.
The results of the interim clinical trial showed large differences in data due to two different protocols: efficacy was 90% for volunteers who received first a half dose and then a full dose a month later, but only 62% for another group vaccinated with two full doses.
The results had been criticized because the half-dose injection was due to an error and a relatively small group had followed this protocol. The company then announced that its vaccine required “an additional study.”
But Pascal Soriot, chief executive of AstraZeneca, said the company’s vaccine provided “100% protection” against severe forms of Covid-19, and told the Sunday Times: “We believe we have discovered the formula. winner and how to achieve the effectiveness that, after two doses, is up there with everyone else. “
He added: “I can’t tell you more because we will post at some point.”
The Oxford University / AstraZeneca vaccine is eagerly awaited in the UK because it is relatively inexpensive and can be stored in conventional freezers, unlike the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine which has to be stored at -70 degrees.
This makes it easier to vaccinate on a large scale and in residences.
The United Kingdom, the first Western country to authorize the distribution of the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine in early December, has this second vaccine to boost momentum and stop growth in cases attributed to a new variant of the coronavirus in its soil.
“For now, we believe the vaccine should be effective” against the new variant, Soriot said. “But we can’t be sure, so we’ll try.”
He assured that new versions were being prepared just in case, although he hoped not to need them: “You have to be prepared.”
The UK government announced on Wednesday that it had submitted full data on the Oxford University / AstraZeneca vaccine to the UK regulator, the Medicines and Health Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).
According to the British press, the MHRA will have to make a decision in the coming days with the intention of injecting the vaccine from 4 January.
The UK has ordered 100 million doses of the Oxford University / AstraZeneca vaccine, 40 million of which will be available by the end of March.
In total, the UK government has secured access to more than 350 million doses by the end of next year, by obtaining seven manufacturers during the clinical trial phase.
In total, more than 600,000 people have already received a first dose of the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine.
The success of the current campaign in the UK is even more crucial as the country, one of the hardest hit by the pandemic with more than 70,000 dead, is resurfacing the virus.
Authorities have attributed this resurgence to a mutation that, according to a British study, is 50% to 74% more contagious and has caused more than 40 countries to close their borders to UK travelers.