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One of the world’s leading vaccine manufacturers has suffered a major setback in its work to produce a Covid-19 vaccine. The problem will push the timeline for deployment of Sanofi Pasteur’s vaccine — if it is approved — from the first half of 2021 into the second half of the year, the company said Friday. ... In effect, participants in the trial received too little vaccine. (Branswell, 12/11)

Using an adjuvant from GSK, Sanofi developed a recombinant protein-based COVID-19 vaccine. The approach took longer than the creation of mRNA and viral vectored vaccines but offered potentially better results due to its combination of established vaccine technologies. That hypothesis took a hit Friday when Sanofi and GSK shared an update on the program. Interim data from a phase 1/2 trial showed the vaccine triggered immune responses in people aged 18 to 49 years that were comparable to those seen in convalescent COVID-19 patients. However, Sanofi and GSK saw “a low immune response” in older adults. (Taylor, 12/11)

GSK and Sanofi said they were confident of their vaccine’s ultimate success due to positive results from other tests. In adults 18 to 49, the vaccine produced an immune response comparable to patients who had recovered from COVID-19, the companies said. In addition, they reported positive results from a “challenge study” in which non-human primates were intentionally exposed to the virus. “Following these results and the latest encouraging new preclinical data, we will now work to further optimize our candidate to achieve this goal,” said Thomas Triomphe, head of Sanofi’s vaccine unit. “No single pharma company can make it alone. The world needs more than one vaccine to fight the pandemic.” (12/11)

The news, which came on the same day as Australia axed a domestic vaccine project, is also a blow for many governments that have booked hundreds of millions of doses of the shot, including the European Union, United States and Britain. (12/11)