(Adds details on individual efficacy)
Dec 11 (Reuters) - Britain's AstraZeneca said on
Friday it would investigate combining its experimental COVID-19
vaccine with Russia's Sputnik V vaccine candidate, a move
Russian scientists have suggested could sharply boost efficacy.
The developers of Sputnik V suggested on Twitter last month
that AstraZeneca try the combination.
"Sputnik V is happy to share one of its two human adenoviral
vectors with AstraZeneca to increase the efficacy of (the)
AstraZeneca vaccine. Using two different vectors for two vaccine
shots will result in higher efficacy than using the same vector
for two shots," they said on Nov. 23.
In its statement on Friday, AstraZeneca said it was
considering how it could assess combinations of different
vaccines, and would soon begin exploring with Russia's Gamaleya
Institute, which developed Sputnik V, whether two common cold
virus-based vaccines could be successfully combined.
Data published in a journal this week showed that
AstraZeneca's vaccine, being developed along with The University
of Oxford, has average efficacy of 70.4%, based on a pooled
analysis of interim data from late stage trials.
Russia has claimed Sputnik V is 92% effective at protecting
people from COVID-19, according to interim trial results.
Kirill Dmitriev, head of Russia's RDIF sovereign wealth
fund, which has funded Sputnik V, said: "This shows the strength
of Sputnik V technology and our willingness and desire to
partner with other vaccines to fight against COVID together."
(Reporting by Pushkala Aripaka in Bengaluru and Andrew Osborn
in Moscow; editing by Patrick Graham and Mark Potter)
Astrazeneca (AZN)
