Sanofi-GSK's Next-Gen COVID-19 Booster Shows Potential Against Variants Of Concern

Sanofi SA SNY said the next-gen COVID-19 vaccine candidate it has developed with GSK Plc GSK in two trials showed a potential to protect against the virus's main variants of concern when used as a booster.
In the Phase 3 VAT02 Cohort 2 study, the vaccine candidate showed a 15-fold increase against the parent virus and a 30-fold increase against Beta strain in adults previously primed with mRNA COVID-19 vaccines.
In particular, against omicron, preliminary data show a 40-fold increase against BA.1.
The Sanofi-GSK next-generation booster candidate generated double the number of neutralizing antibodies against omicron BA.1 and BA.2 compared to the original parent virus booster.
Related: EMA Starts Review Of Sanofi-GlaxoSmithKline's COVID-19 Vaccine.
An independent COVIBOOST study demonstrated that Sanofi-GSK next-generation booster generated a higher immune response after two doses of Pfizer Inc PFE - BioNTech's SE BNTX COVID-19 shot than Pfizer-BioNTech's booster or the Sanofi-GSK first-generation booster.
In this study, which included 247 subjects, all three vaccines elicited neutralizing antibodies against the omicron BA.1 variant, with the highest responses generated by the Sanofi-GSK next-generation candidate.
Across both studies, the Sanofi-GSK next-generation vaccine candidate was well-tolerated, with a favorable safety profile.
In the VAT02 cohort 2 study, low numbers of Grade 3 reactions were reported, all transient and non-severe.
Price Action: SNY shares are down 1.16% at $50.32, and GSK stock is down 2.47% at $42.72 during the premarket session on the last check Monday.
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