And three!
For the third Monday in a row, good news follows one another on the Covid-19 vaccine front.
After the Americans Pfizer on November 9, then Moderna on the 16, it is the turn of the British firm AstraZeneca to make its own results public this Monday, November 23.
"This is incredible good news," English Prime Minister Boris Johnson immediately welcomed.
In fact, the race for the vaccine against the pandemic seems in an excellent dynamic, even if we must still remain cautious, because it is only the labs that communicate, without independent authorities having been able to access their data.
This will only be the case when their studies will be submitted, over the next few days, to the various regulatory agencies, whether it is the FDA in the United States (where Pfizer made its request on Friday) or the EMA for the Old Continent.
The Amsterdam-based European Medicines Agency, which is currently reviewing applications for authorization from three applicants (AstraZeneca, Pfizer and Moderna), today said it may approve the first Covid-19 vaccines from by the end of the year or early 2021.
“70%” effective, a good result?
While its competitors have echoed success close to 100% (90% for Pfizer, 94% for Moderna), the Englishman AstraZeneca, associated with the University of Oxford, would almost appear as an average student by not showing than a modest 70%.
In reality, this figure is an average between two data from clinical trials in the laboratory, which did not receive the same quantities of product.
A first group of volunteers received a dose of vaccine, then another one month later, and were protected in 62% of cases.
A second group received a half dose, then another dose a month later, and were immunized 90% of the time.
Less vaccine, more responses, sounds surprising?
"It may sound counterintuitive to those who think that vaccines are like normal drugs, but the immune system has its own working mechanisms," says Peter Openshaw of Imperial College London, who defends the results of the AstraZeneca study.
An efficiency of 70% is considered a good result, according to the uses in the field of science.
But the results vary from one to another, depending on the pathologies.
That against influenza is around 65%, while that against measles is almost 100%.
A more traditional technique, better than messenger RNA?
The medical community is all the more benevolent with this study since the technique used is already well known.
This is a so-called "viral vector" technology, often used in the vaccination industry.
Another virus, in this case an adenovirus, transformed, is used for the body to develop antibodies.
Conversely, Pfizer and Moderna rely on a completely new and ultra-innovative technique of messenger RNA, which consists in modifying the genetic material of the Covid virus.
Clearly, injecting strands of genetic instructions called messenger RNA into our cells to make them manufacture proteins, or specific “antigen” of the coronavirus, these will be delivered to the immune system which will then produce antibodies.
Promising… but never tried on a large scale on humans.
Faced with Covid-19, 48 vaccine candidates are currently in clinical trials.
But only 11 have entered phase 3, the last before approval by the authorities, according to the World Health Organization.
How to overcome the logistics puzzle?
Vaccination against Covid will also have to overcome purely logistical issues.
Starting with storage.
Advantage of the Astra Zeneca treatment, it can be stored in a classic fridge, while Pfizer's innovation requires to be stored at -70 degrees.
To get around this handicap, the American firm has pulled an asset out of its sleeve by promising to be able to deliver it in powder form, which would make it easier to store.
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But will it then have to be reconditioned?
No certainties for the moment.
“We can see that logistics issues are of crucial importance for these vaccines against Covid-19, with billions of people to be vaccinated.
However, there are only about 30 factories in the world that can produce the vaccine, and most are located in Europe and the United States.
The different manufacturers will have to get along particularly well with each other for this to work, ”observes Philippe Géhin, consultant in the pharmaceutical industry.
What about the countryside and security?
But this news, as positive as it is, is not enough to reassure patients and the mistrust that a vaccination arouses in many.
Emmanuel Macron is also eagerly awaited in his speech on Tuesday evening on the country's vaccine strategy which will be "discussed", according to government officials.
After the failures on the masks and the tests, the executive is expected at the turn.
No question either appearing too lagging behind compared to other countries, knowing that the United States have already announced the start of vaccination in mid-December, without loosening vigilance.
The medical journal Prescrire, which takes a critical look at the various announcements in the field of drugs, and revealed several cases, lays down in its latest issue a number of principles on the protocols of these Covid vaccines.
"It is not because there is a real emergency in terms of public health on the Covid-19 that we should be less demanding on the safety data related to these vaccines", explains Bruno Toussaint, the editor-in-chief.
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“So far, we have simply had press releases of a few lines from certain pharmaceutical companies,” he points out.
It is not enough.
What we ask is that the health security agencies make public, as soon as they receive them, the scientific data transmitted.
The agencies use it to establish their evaluation report on the effectiveness or not of a particular vaccine.
These are documents of several tens of pages.
This transparency will be necessary to gain the confidence of the public.
»An imperative, to dispel doubts.