Pharmaceutical companies Sanofi and GSK’s “next generation” COVID-19 booster vaccine has earned approval by the European Commission.
After the European Medicines Agency’s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) adopted a positive opinion for VidPrevtyn Beta, the vaccine was approved by the European Commission, as a booster for the prevention of COVID-19 in adults 18 years of age and older.
Designed to provide broad protection against multiple variants, the protein-based COVID-19 booster vaccine is based on the Beta variant antigen and includes GSK’s pandemic adjuvant. VidPrevtyn Beta is indicated as a booster for active immunisation against SARS_CoV_2 in adults who have previously received an mRNA or adenoviral COVID vaccine. Shipments of VidPrevtyn Beta are ready to be distributed to European countries as per Advance Purchase Agreements.
Thomas Triomphe, Executive Vice President, Vaccines, Sanofi, said: “Today’s approval validates our research in developing a novel solution for the COVID-19 pandemic. As we’re ready to start first shipments, VidPrevtyn Beta will be an important new option to protect populations against multiple strains of COVID-19.”
Philip Dormitzer, Global Head of Research and Development Vaccines, GSK, said: “This EC approval is an important step in providing further vaccine solutions to Europe for the coming winter. Our protein-based, adjuvanted vaccine candidate has the potential to make an important contribution to public health as the pandemic evolves further.”
In registration studies, carried out at times when Omicron strains were predominantly circulating, the vaccine induced a strong immune response against multiple variants. Registration studies included a Phase 3 primary efficacy trial (VAT08 Stage 2) and two separate immunogenicity studies, including one comparative study with approved mRNA booster as comparator.
VidPrevtyn Beta is a monovalent, recombinant-protein next-generation COVID-19 vaccine developed by Sanofi, modelled on the Beta variant and including GSK’s pandemic adjuvant. The same recombinant-protein technology is used in Sanofi’s approved seasonal flu vaccines. Next-generation COVID-19 vaccines are based on a variant-adapted approach, using a strain other than the parental strain of SARS-CoV-2 (D614 strain).
The independent COVIBOOST (VAT013) study conducted by the Assistance Publique – Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP) investigated VidPrevtyn Beta following primary vaccination with two doses of Pfizer-BioNTech’s Comirnaty vaccine (BNT162b2). VidPrevtyn Beta generated a higher immune response (as measured by neutralising antibody titers) than Pfizer-BioNTech’s booster or the Sanofi-GSK first-generation booster, both of which target the original D614 parent strain.
Today’s approval validates our research in developing a novel solution for the COVID-19 pandemic
In this study, which included 247 adult subjects (18-73 years-old), all three vaccines also elicited neutralising antibodies against the Omicron BA.1 variant, with highest responses generated by the Sanofi-GSK next-generation candidate, one month after injection. VidPrevtyn Beta also elicited around 2.5 times more neutralising antibodies against Omicron BA.1 and, in an exploratory analysis, against BA.4 / BA.5 strains than mRNA COVID-19 booster comparator.
Immunogenicity studies included VAT02 Cohort 2 and COVIBOOST which evaluated the booster formulation modelled on the Beta variant and including GSK’s pandemic adjuvant. In the Phase 3 VAT02 Cohort 2 study, the vaccine induced (at day 15 following booster vaccination) a significant boost in antibody titers above baseline against multiple variants of concern (13-fold increase against D614 parent virus, 34-fold increase against the COVID-19 Beta strain) in 18-55 years-old adults previously primed with mRNA COVID-19 vaccines. In the VAT02 cohort 2 study, reactions were mostly mild to moderate, transient and self resolutive.
The VAT08 Phase 3 Stage 2 study is a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial investigating primary vaccination with a bivalent COVID-19 vaccine containing both parental (D614) and Beta strains. The results showed a 64.7% efficacy against symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection in adults, regardless of their SARS-CoV-2 infection status prior to vaccination, and 75.1% efficacy in participants previously infected with SARS-CoV-2. This study was the first ever to report efficacy data in an Omicron environment.
