Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine likely to protect against UK variant, study says
pharmafile | January 20, 2021 | News story | Research and Development | COVID-19, Pfizer
The Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine is likely to protect against the coronavirus variant found in Britain, the latest research says.
The most recent tests were conducted on a synthetic virus with 10 mutations that are characteristic of the variant first identified Britain, B117. Blood samples from 16 trial participants were exposed to the synthetic virus, which was engineered to have the same surface proteins as B117.
Researchers found that the antibodies in the blood of the vaccine recipients neutralised the pseudovirus as effectively as the older coronavirus strain that the product was initially designed for.
The study’s 11 authors include BioNTech’s co-founders, Ugur Sahin and Oezlem Tuereci.
The findings, which have been on bioRxiv.org but are yet to be peer-reviewed, provide more extensive analysis than those released by Pfizer last week. The US drugs giant had previously announced that a similar study showed the vaccine to be effective against a mutation called N501Y, which has been found in both of the new variants that emerged in England and South Africa.
VUI-202012/01 – the variant first identified in the UK – is 70% more transmissible than the original virus, according to scientists. Researchers also found that the mutated virus increases the UK’s coronavirus R rate by up to 0.7 – but experts say there is “no evidence” the strain is more dangerous than the original coronavirus.
The promising results offer hope that the recently discovered and more contagious strains of coronavirus will not hamper global vaccination efforts.
Darcy Jimenez
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