The French laboratory, which had abandoned a first candidate vaccine against the coronavirus, announced Monday morning very positive results for a second serum, after phase 2 of its development.
The vaccine would be effective between 95 and 100%, and this on all age groups.
The French laboratory Sanofi published on Monday positive results of a clinical trial on its main candidate vaccine against Covid-19, developed with the British GSK, after a setback that had caused several months of delay.
The interim results of this phase 2 human trial show that administration of this vaccine "induced the production of high concentrations of neutralizing antibodies in adults of all age groups at levels comparable to those of observed in people who had recovered from an infection "Covid, details the laboratory in a press release on Monday.
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We can say that Sanofi hits very hard. After the administration of two doses, his vaccine shows an efficacy of 95 to 100%, which is quite exceptional. And this effectiveness is verified on all age groups from 18 to 95 years. What changes everything. The first version of his vaccine was not effective enough, especially on the elderly. Despite everything, this new vaccine remains particularly effective on the youngest.
These results are therefore very close to those obtained with messenger RNA vaccines, the most efficient so far.
But this vaccine which uses the technique of recombinant protein and has the advantage of being stored in a simple fridge, between 2 and 8 degrees.
This technology has already been proven in vaccination against influenza or pertussis.
What is also very interesting is that a single dose seems quite effective, especially those who have already had Covid, which means that this vaccine, which should be available by the end of the year, could be very useful when it is necessary to vaccinate every year.
Place in phase 3
But beware, everything is not yet won, far from it, even if it brings hope and even serious hopes.
These results are yet to be confirmed.
Sanofi will launch a final so-called phase 3 study in the coming weeks.
This phase consists of large-scale human trials, which will be carried out on 35,000 people in several countries.
Two formulations will be tested, and one of them will more specifically target the South African variant.
The Laboratory also plans to launch industrial production of its vaccine in parallel.
If the results are confirmed, the first doses could arrive no earlier than October.
And if all goes well, the laboratory will be able to launch, for the first time, vaccines made in France.