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(Adds comments from Russian Direct Investment Fund)
MOSCOW, July 26 (Reuters) - Russia has given the green light
for clinical trials combining a British shot from AstraZeneca
Plc and Oxford University with Russia's Sputnik V
vaccine to go ahead, according to Russia's state drug register.
The health ministry's ethical committee had in May suspended
the approval process for the clinical trials, and requested
additional information.
According to the state drug register, five Russian clinics
will hold trials that are set to finish in early March, 2022.
Both the AstraZeneca/Oxford and Sputnik V vaccines involve
two doses - an initial shot and a booster - but Sputnik V uses
different viral vectors for its two shots.
Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), which promotes the
use of the Sputnik V vaccine, has welcomed the decision to go
ahead with the trials.
"Currently, RDIF is conducting joint clinical trials to
combine the first component of Sputnik V - the Sputnik Light
vaccine - with vaccines from other foreign manufacturers," it
said in a statement.
"In particular, the Sputnik Light vaccine can be used in
combination with other vaccine to increase their effectiveness
including against new variants appearing as a result of the
mutation of the virus."
So-called viral vector shots use harmless modified viruses
as vehicles, or vectors, to carry genetic information that helps
the body build immunity against future infections.
Human trials of a COVID-19 vaccine combining the
AstraZeneca/Oxford shot with Sputnik V had already been approved
in Azerbaijan, the United Arab Emirates, Belarus and Argentina.
(Reporting by Polina Nikolskaya and Vladimir Soldatkin; Editing
by Timothy Heritage and Grant McCool)
