MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia has given the green light for clinical trials combining a British shot from AstraZeneca and Oxford University with Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine to go ahead, according to Russia’s state drug register.
The health ministry’s ethical committee had in May suspended the approval process for the clinical trials, and requested additional information.
According to the state drug register, five Russian clinics will hold trials that are set to finish in early March, 2022.
Both the AstraZeneca/Oxford and Sputnik V vaccines involve two doses — an initial shot and a booster — and both use adenovirus vectors. The AstraZeneca/Oxford shot uses a modified chimpanzee adenovirus, ChAdOx1, while Sputnik V uses AD26 in the first shot and AD5 in the second shot of the usual two-shot regimen.
So-called viral vector vaccines use modified viruses as vehicles, or vectors, to carry DNA instructions for cells to manufacture a pathogen protein that helps the body build immunity against future infections.
Human trials of a COVID-19 vaccine combining the AstraZeneca/Oxford shot with Sputnik V had already been approved in Azerbaijan, the United Arab Emirates and Belarus.
Click https://tmsnrt.rs/3y8yLYS for a Reuters graphic on vaccines in development.
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