AstraZeneca (NYSE:AZN) said Friday it would soon start work with Russia’s Gamaleya Institute to investigate whether their two coronavirus vaccine candidates could be successfully combined.
The announcement comes shortly after the developers of the Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine approached AstraZeneca via Twitter late last month to ask whether they should try combining the two common cold virus-based vaccines to boost efficacy.
The Russian Direct Investment Fund, Russia’s sovereign wealth fund — which has funded the development of Sputnik V — said clinical trials of AstraZeneca’s vaccine in combination with its own would begin by the end of the month.
AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine, produced in a collaboration with the University of Oxford, is one of several seeking to secure approval from medicine regulators amid rising hopes that a mass vaccination campaign could help end the pandemic.
To date, more than 69 million people have contracted the coronavirus worldwide, with 1.58 million related deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.
Data published in The Lancet medical journal this week showed AstraZeneca’s vaccine has an average efficacy of 70.4%, based on the pooling of interim data from late-stage clinical trials.
The vaccine was also found to be safe and effective.
Russia has claimed Sputnik V is over 90% effective in preventing people from contracting the virus, citing preliminary results from ongoing trials.
AZN shares doffed 14 cents in New York to begin Friday at $53.75
