AstraZeneca, Russia's Gamaleya Institute Sign Preliminary Agreement on Combined Vaccine Test
21 Dezember 2020 - 1:15PM
Dow Jones News
By Georgi Kantchev
MOSCOW--AstraZeneca PLC has signed a memorandum of cooperation
with Russia's state-run Gamaleya Institute as the drug developers
are looking to test whether a combination of their Covid-19
vaccines can boost effectiveness in fighting the pandemic.
The two-shot AstraZeneca vaccine, which was developed jointly
with the University of Oxford, would use one of Gamaleya's Sputnik
V's two components in a clinical trial, the developers announced in
an agreement earlier this month.
"Such cooperation can have a powerful effect, synergy both for
increasing the efficiency and reliability of the vaccine itself and
for its greater availability," Russian President Vladimir Putin
said during a video conference with the developers Monday.
Separately, Russian officials said Monday that Sputnik V was
effective against a new strain of the virus, which was found in the
U.K. and appeared to be spreading 70% faster than earlier variants,
because Sputnik V had been successful despite previous mutations,
they said.
The Russian Direct Investment Fund, Russia's sovereign-wealth
fund which has backed the Sputnik V vaccine, said that trials of
the combination between the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine and the
Russian shot would begin soon in three countries, including in the
Middle East.
The trial could help raise the international profile of Russia's
vaccine, which has drawn skepticism from Western scientists and
politicians for its speedy approval in August. Moscow has sold
Sputnik V to dozens of countries, including Brazil, India and
Mexico, and aims to produce 500 million doses abroad next year. On
Monday, the fund said that Belarus became the first foreign country
to officially register the vaccine.
The signing of the memorandum came as Russia on Monday reported
a new record increase in infections, registering 29,350 cases and
bringing the nationwide total to nearly 2.9 million--the
fourth-highest in the world after the U.S., India and Brazil.
Write to Georgi Kantchev at georgi.kantchev@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
December 21, 2020 07:00 ET (12:00 GMT)
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