The American biotechnology company Novavax has carried out first animal trials of a single vaccine combining those it is developing separately against influenza and Covid-19, with initial positive results, it announced on Monday.
Novavax's influenza vaccine (named NanoFlu), as well as its cure for Covid-19 (NVX-CoV2373), are not yet licensed globally, but have both been studied separately in phase 3 clinical trials. , that is to say on thousands of humans.
Read also: Novavax confirms the effectiveness of its vaccine against Covid-19
Two products in one vaccine
This time the company administered a vaccine containing both products to ferrets and hamsters. This "
has elicited strong responses against both influenza A and B and protection against SARS-CoV-2,
" the virus causing Covid-19 disease, Novavax said in a statement. In ferrets, antibody levels against the two diseases were comparable to those elicited by vaccines administered individually. Hamsters that were deliberately exposed to the SARS-CoV-2 virus kept the same weight compared to those unvaccinated, and “
an examination of the viral load in the upper and lower respiratory tract showed little or no , virus was detected four days after infection
”.
Simultaneous testing on humans in anticipation
The company plans to begin testing on humans, initially in very small numbers, "
by the end of the year,
" she said. "
We believe that this new candidate vaccine resulting from a combination (...) could be an important future tool in the long-term fight against these two respiratory viruses
", declared Gregory Glenn, in charge of research and development at Novavax. Novavax has announced that it wants to file an emergency authorization request for its Covid-19 vaccine in the United Kingdom "
in the second quarter of 2021
", as well as shortly after in the United States. This remedy uses a technology different from that used for vaccines already widely authorized in the world. It is a so
-
called "
subunit
», Made from proteins that trigger an immune response, virus-free. In March, the company said its vaccine was 89.7% effective against symptomatic forms of the disease, according to clinical trials in the UK on more than 15,000 people aged 18 and over.
