UK and Russian scientists intend to trial a combination of the Oxford-AstraZeneca and Sputnik V vaccines to see if protection against Covid-19 can be improved, BBC reports.
AstraZeneca reported it was evaluating how to assess combinations of different vaccines, and one of those combinations was with the Russian Sputnik V. Specifically, they are considering vaccines that use similar technology as their own, which is the case with the Sputnik V vaccine—both use common cold viruses as vectors, unlike the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, which use mRNA encapsulated in nanolipid particles
The trial will be carried out in Russia. To participate in the experiment, they plan to attract volunteers over 18 years old, but their number is still unknown.
The cooperation between one of Britain’s most valuable listed companies and the state-backed Russian research institute highlights the pressure to develop an effective shot to fight the pandemic, which has killed over 1.5 million people.
Sputnik’s Russian developers say clinical trials, still under way, have shown it has an efficacy rate of over 90%, higher than that of AstraZeneca’s own vaccine and similar to those of U.S. rivals Pfizer and Moderna.
As we reported earlier, the Russian Ministry of Health has fixed the maximum cost price of its coronavirus vaccine Sputnik V at $26.20 (1,942 rubles) for two doses.
