France’s Sanofi seeks approval for delayed Covid vaccine
The French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi said, on Wednesday, that its Covid-19 vaccine, developed by the British company GSK, had achieved positive results after nearly a year of delays that left it far behind its competitors.
The drug companies said they would “seek regulatory authorization” for the vaccine in the United States and the European Union after phase 3 trials involving thousands of people.
Sanofi said in a statement that the trials indicated that the vaccine was 100 percent effective against acute Covid disease and hospitalization.
The statement added that it was more than 50 percent effective against all symptoms of Covid.
The data is “similar to recent clinical data from licensed vaccines,” Sanofi Vice President for Vaccines Thomas Triumvi said.
He also emphasized that no further Phase III study had been conducted “during this period with several variables of concern, including Omicron.”
The announcement of positive trials – which have not yet been released as usual – puts the vaccine in the last hurdle before a possible market launch.
Sanofi’s share price rose about 1.5 percent on the Paris Stock Exchange at midday.
Wounded French pride If the vaccine gets permission, it will mark the end of Sanofi’s long struggle to develop a Covid vaccine after many setbacks.
The French company had originally hoped to announce such results by mid-2021.
But the date was pushed back six months due to a dosing error, and then late last year again after difficulties finding people who had never contracted Covid to participate in the trials.
The delay — and the famous Pasteur Institute abandoning plans to develop its own vaccine in early 2021 — has affected the pride of a country that sees itself as a leader in pharmaceutical technology.
Sanofi has also abandoned a previous vaccine project based on mRNA technology used by faster competitors Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna, whose masses have been the backbone of vaccination efforts in many countries.
Sanofi is now focusing on a vaccine that uses a somewhat less innovative technology based on recombinant protein technology, which has also been seen in the Novavax jab that is about to be introduced in France.
There are hopes that Sanofi’s strike could attract more unvaccinated people who remain skeptical of the mRNA technology, despite the plethora of evidence for its effectiveness.
Roger Connor, head of GlaxoSmithKline Vaccines, said in the statement that the injection “uses a well-established method that has been widely applied to prevent infection with other viruses, including pandemic influenza.”
The European Union has already ordered millions of doses of the vaccine in advance, and Sanofi will likely play a role in booster campaigns around the world.
And with many countries – particularly in the developing world – struggling to vaccinate their populations, it is likely that there is still a market for newer vaccines.
(AFP)
