Upgraded version of COVID booster shot has potential against main variants: Sanofi

While the two companies' first experimental COVID shot is undergoing review by the European Medicines Agency, Sanofi and GSK have continued work on a vaccine that is molded on the now-supplanted Beta variant, hoping still that it will confer broad protection against future viral mutations.

Sanofi said this new vaccine candidate was shown to significantly boost antibody levels against a number of variants of concern, when given to trial participants who had an initial course of mRNA vaccines, a type made by BioNTech-Pfizer and Moderna.

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In a separate trial conducted by a French hospitals network, Sanofi's Beta-adapted booster shot triggered a higher immune response than Sanofi's first-generation shot or Pfizer-BioNTech's established vaccine in previously vaccinated volunteers.

"The Beta variant expresses similar mutations across multiple variants of concern, including Omicron, making it a strong vaccine candidate to confer broad protection against multiple strains of COVID-19," said Thomas Triomphe, the head of Sanofi's vaccine business.

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Highlighting the need for vaccine makers to address new variants of concern in a saturated COVID vaccine market, Valneva on Friday said it was in talks to try and salvage a supply agreement that the European Commission cancelled.

Valneva's product is based on the original virus found in the Chinese city of Wuhan, like BioNTech-Pfizer and Moderna's dominant first-generation shots