A clinical study of the combination of AstraZeneca and Sputnik Light vaccines, conducted in Azerbaijan, has revealed strong neutralising antibodies growth in the majority of participants.
The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), Russia’s sovereign wealth fund, which supported AstraZeneca and R-Pharm in this study, led the way in initiating partnerships with other vaccine producers to study the combination of the first component of Sputnik V with foreign vaccines.
The study began in February 2021 with 100 volunteers involved to date. Data were collected from the first 20 participants of the study, who had received both components of the combination with AstraZeneca vaccine as the first component and Sputnik Light as the second one (administered 29 days later).
“According to the results of the interim analysis, a fourfold or higher increase in neutralising antibodies to the spike protein (S-protein) of the SARS-CoV-2 was found in 85% of the volunteers on the 57th day of the study,” says RDIF.
Sputnik Light is the first component (recombinant human adenovirus serotype number 26) of Sputnik V, the world’s first registered vaccine against coronavirus. It has a significant advantage in that it is based on a well-studied human adenoviral vector platform that has proven to be safe and effective, with no long term side effects.
The heterogeneous boosting approach (or the ‘vaccine cocktail’) involved in the clinical study was at the core of Sputnik V, and this used human adenovirus serotype 26 as the first component and human adenovirus serotype 5 as the second component.
The combined use of the vaccines has demonstrated a high safety profile with no serious adverse effects of coronavirus infection post-vaccination.
Outside of Azerbaijan, clinical trials of a combination of the two vaccines are being carried out as part of a global program in UAE and Russia, and regulatory approval to conduct trials has been granted in Belarus.
Lina Adams
This is a syndicated feed from Pharmafile
