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Drug Discovery and Development

Europe approves GSK and Sanofi’s next-gen COVID-19 booster vaccine VidPrevtyn Beta

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Sanofi-GSKThe European Commission has approved the VidPrevtyn Beta COVID-19 vaccine as a booster for individuals who are at least 18.

The vaccine is the first next-gen protein-based adjuvanted COVID-19 booster to win European approval.

Sanofi (Nasdaq:SNY) developed the vaccine based on the beta variant using GSK’s (NYSE:GSK) pandemic adjuvant.

After announcing the news, Sanofi shares were up 1.45% to $43.97 in early afternoon trading. GSK shares were up 2.42% to $33.21.

VidPrevtyn Beta is a monovalent, recombinant-protein vaccine developed by Sanofi, modeled on the Beta variant and including GSK’s pandemic adjuvant. The vaccine uses recombinant-protein technology found in Sanofi’s seasonal flu vaccines.

In July, GSK and Sanofi announced that their adjuvanted bivalent version of its vaccine was 72% efficacious against omicron in adults in a Phase 3 study.

GSK and Sanofi noted that the vaccine performed well in registrational trials when the omicron variant was predominant, including a Phase 3 primary efficacy study and two separate immunogenicity trials.

Sanofi tested VidPrevtyn Beta in two immunobridging trials to measure the immune response from the new vaccine relative to a previously approved vaccine.

In the COVIBOOST VAT013 study, the vaccine was administered to participants who had received two prior doses of Pfizer-BioNTech’s Comirnaty vaccine (BNT162b2).

In that study, VidPrevtyn Beta was also pitted against BNT162b2 as a booster. VidPrevtyn Beta offered a superior performance against the omicron BA.1 variant one month after administration. VidPrevtyn Beta led to approximately 2.5 times more neutralizing antibodies against the BA.1 variant and in an exploratory analysis involving the BA.4/BA.5 sublineages of omicron.

VidPrevtyn Beta offers protection against multiple strains of COVID-19, according to Thomas Triomphe, executive vice president of Sanofi Vaccines.

“The approval from the European Commission is an important step in providing further vaccine solutions to Europe for the coming autumn and winter,” said Phil Dormitzer, global head of vaccines R&D, GSK, in a news release.

The U.S. government contributed to the development of the vaccine through federal funds from Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA).

In 2021, Sanofi announced that it halted the development of an mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccine.

Filed Under: clinical trials, Infectious Disease
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About The Author

Brian Buntz

As the pharma and biotech editor at WTWH Media, Brian has almost two decades of experience in B2B media, with a focus on healthcare and technology. While he has long maintained a keen interest in AI, more recently Brian has made making data analysis a central focus, and is exploring tools ranging from NLP and clustering to predictive analytics.

Throughout his 18-year tenure, Brian has covered an array of life science topics, including clinical trials, medical devices, and drug discovery and development. Prior to WTWH, he held the title of content director at Informa, where he focused on topics such as connected devices, cybersecurity, AI and Industry 4.0. A dedicated decade at UBM saw Brian providing in-depth coverage of the medical device sector. Engage with Brian on LinkedIn or drop him an email at bbuntz@wtwhmedia.com.

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