Paris (AFP)

This may be the end of the tunnel for Sanofi, late in the vaccination race: the French laboratory published positive results of a clinical trial on its main Covid-19 vaccine project on Monday, after a setback that had weighed on the group.

This phase 2 human trial shows that administration of this recombinant protein vaccine "induced the production of high concentrations of neutralizing antibodies in adults", at levels comparable to those seen in people who had recovered from a Covid infection, the laboratory said in a statement on Monday.

In detail, the results show seroconversion - that is, the production of antibodies - in 95% to 100% of cases, after administration of a second dose, in all age groups. from 18 to 95 years old.

Furthermore, in participants who had previously been infected with Covid-19, a single dose of the vaccine produced the production of high concentrations of neutralizing antibodies, "which underlines the strong potential interest represented by its development for booster vaccination. ", says Sanofi.

A phase 3 study, the very last before the potential authorization of this vaccine developed with the British GSK - which provides its adjuvant -, should start at the end of May / early June.

Sanofi will start production in parallel.

Carried out on 35,000 people, the last phase will evaluate two formulations of the vaccine, in particular against the Wuhan variants and the South African variant, while in previous trials, the candidate vaccine was only tested on the Wuhan variant. .

The laboratory continues to count on a potential launch in the 4th quarter, nearly a year after the first vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna.

- Playing cards ?

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In Europe, in addition to these two vaccines, those from Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca have already been on the market for weeks.

Sanofi was several months late after a first study on humans which concluded at the end of 2020 to have an insufficient immune response.

This setback had sparked controversy in France, where neither public research nor private research have yet succeeded in marketing an anti-Covid vaccine.

But faced with its more advanced competitors, the group believes it has a card to play, especially as a booster dose.

"I think our vaccine will be very useful (...), 10% of the planet is now vaccinated with a single dose", pleaded the French president of Sanofi, Olivier Bogillot, on Europe 1, Monday morning.

"Our vaccine will provide an additional solution," he continued, arguing that Sanofi's vaccine requires conventional storage conditions, and not super fridges, like that of Pfizer-BioNTech.

In addition, Sanofi, which had indicated to aim for a vaccine at ten euros or less the dose, could play on relatively moderate prices compared to competitors like Pfizer-BioNTech.

Comirnaty, the trade name of the vaccine developed by the German-American tandem, could indeed reach 19.50 euros per dose for the 900 million doses ordered for 2022 and 2023 by the European Union.

For its part, Sanofi has "discussions with all states," said Bogillot, citing the United States, Canada, England and the European Union.

"Most countries were waiting for the results of this phase 2 to be able to operate the controls," he said.

The French juggernaut is also developing a second vaccine candidate with the American company Translate Bio, based on the more recent messenger RNA technology (used by the vaccines from Pfizer / BioNTech and Moderna).

At the same time, it has made agreements with other manufacturers - Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson and Moderna - to help them put their vaccines in vials, agreements that will be well honored, according to the group.

© 2021 AFP