AstraZeneca to test Sputnik V component in clinical trials of AZD1222, its own vaccine

UK and Russian scientists are teaming up to trial a combination of the Oxford University-developed COVID-19 vaccine with Sputnik V vaccines to see if protection against the novel coronavirus can be improved.

After the Sputnik V vaccine’s clinical trial preliminary results showed its efficacy at above 90%, the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF, Russia’s sovereign wealth fund) and Gamaleya Institute on November 23, offered UK pharma major AstraZeneca (LSE: AZN) the use one of the two components (human adenoviral vectors of the Sputnik V in AstraZeneca’s own COVID-19 vaccine clinical trials.

AstraZeneca has confirmed it has accepted RDIF’s proposal and will begin clinical trials of its AZD1222 vaccine in combination with Sputnik V’s human adenoviral vector type Ad26 by the end of 2020. This research will allow AstraZeneca’s scientists to study the possibility of boosting their vaccine’s efficacy through the application of this combined approach.