GlaxoSmithKline announces good lab results for new Covid vaccine

08/18/2021 Health News

Glaxo reveals promising lab results for new British-made vaccine that could target multiple Covid variants – with 50m doses on order from the UK

GlaxoSmithKline said its new Covid vaccine has produced good results in initial laboratory tests
Human trials are expected to begin this year, with ministers set to order up to 50 million doses of the jab
Technology at heart of vaccine could be used to create jab that would be designed to protect against variants
GSK, one of the world’s biggest vaccine companies, has been criticised over delays in producing Covid jab

British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline said its new Covid vaccine has produced good results in initial laboratory tests, with human trials expected to begin this year and ministers set to order up to 50 million doses of the jab.

The mRNA technology at the heart of the vaccine could be used to create a so-called multivalent jab that would be designed to protect against several Covid variants, GSK and German partner CureVac said.

A first version of the vaccine developed by the German company had failed in large-scale trials. The latest trials were conducted in collaboration with Harvard and involved macaque monkeys being jabbed with either the original vaccine or a new version, known as CV2CoV.

The Times reported that human trials are expected to begin later this year. Britain said in February that it could order 50 million doses, with ministers suggesting the project would lead to the UK developing the ability to manufacture its own mRNA vaccines.

GSK, one of the world’s biggest vaccine companies, has been criticised over delays in producing a successful Covid jab. Its new vaccine is based on the same type of mRNA technology that is found at the heart of the Pfizer and Moderna jabs.

It comes as Moderna’s Covid vaccine was approved for all 12 to 17-year-olds, with a review by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, the drug watchdog, finding the jab was safe and effective in youngsters.

Both Moderna and Pfizer’s jabs have been linked to myocarditis, a rare heart problem believed to affect around one in 20,000 young people. The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation has claimed the risk of heart inflammation still outweighs the benefit of Covid jabs for healthy under-16s.

In other Covid developments:

New Zealand was plunged into one of the world’s toughest lockdowns after a single Covid case was found;
New study that remained unpublished for a year found that animals known to be carrying coronaviruses were sold at local wet markets in the 2010s;
Britain recorded 170 Covid fatalities and 26,852 positive tests;
A new Covid test said to be quicker than a lateral flow and as accurate as a PCR could be rolled out in just three months;
Millions of people who have caught coronavirus face being turned down for vital life, critical illness and income protection insurance.

A GSK employee works on a vaccine packing line at the factory of British pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline in Wavre

Britain recorded 170 Covid fatalities and 26,852 positive tests

Britain today recorded 170 Covid fatalities in the deadliest recorded daily toll for five months, and infections are continuing to rise.

Department of Health statistics show today’s death count was 16.4 per cent up on last week’s count and was the most registered in a day since March 12 (175), when the second wave had started to fizzle out.

But day-to-day figures can fluctuate heavily, especially on Tuesdays — which are artificially higher because of the recording lag at weekends.

The overall trend — measured by the seven-day average — has flattened out over the past fortnight and the daily counts are just a fraction of what they were when cases were at a similar level in January.

Deaths and hospital admissions — which have also levelled off, jumping just 2.4 per cent in a week — lag several weeks behind cases because of how long it takes for infected people to become seriously ill.

The new Covid jab was shown to stimulate more robust immune responses, with higher levels of antibodies and stronger activation of so-called ‘memory B’ and ‘T’ cells, important aspects of the body’s defences against the virus, the paper reported.

Monkeys vaccinated with the new jab were also found to be better protected when they were exposed to the virus. In a statement, the companies said there was ‘highly effective clearance of the virus in the lungs and nasal passages’.

Rino Rappuoli, chief scientist and head of GSK vaccines research and development, said: ‘The mRNA technology is a key strategic priority for us, and we are investing significantly in a number of mRNA programs focused on the collaboration with CureVac.

‘The strong immune response and protection in pre-clinical testing of this second-generation mRNA backbone are very encouraging and represent an important milestone for its further development.’

It comes as Moderna’s Covid vaccine was today approved for all 12 to 17-year-olds, in a sign that Britain is edging closer to routinely jabbing children. It becomes the second coronavirus vaccine to be approved for British children after Pfizer’s, which uses the same technology, was green-lit in June.

All 16 and 17-year-olds are already being invited for the Pfizer vaccine and don’t need permission from a parent or guardian to get one. But only under-16s who live with vulnerable people or who have immune weaknesses themselves are being invited currently.

However, health chiefs last week hinted Britain may follow the US’ lead in vaccinating all children over 12. More than 10million under-18s in America have already had their first jab.

The JCVI will look at Moderna’s trials of its Covid jab in children before making a recommendation. The panel will likely look abroad to rollouts where the vaccine is already being given to children.

Dr June Raine, the chief executive of the MHRA, said: ‘I am pleased to confirm that that the Covid vaccine made by Moderna has now been authorised in 12-17 year olds. The vaccine is safe and effective in this age group.

‘We have in place a comprehensive safety surveillance strategy for monitoring the safety of all UK-approved Covid-19 vaccines and this surveillance will include the 12 to 17 year age group.

‘It is for the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) to advise on whether this age group should be vaccinated with the Covid vaccine made by Moderna as part of the deployment programme.’

This will give them the opportunity to build up some level of protection before the school year starts in September, when infections are expected to rise sharply. Other countries have successfully been vaccinating younger children for some time, but the UK has taken a more cautious approach.

So far the JCVI is only recommending the Pfizer vaccine be rolled out to children under 16 if they have severely weakened immune systems or learning difficulties. Youngsters who live with immunosuppressed family members are also eligible for a jab.

The JCVI claims healthy children are at such a low risk from coronavirus and long Covid that the tiny risk of heart problems after vaccination outweighs the benefit.

Young people appear to be at a one in 20,000 chance of developing myocarditis, inflammation of the heart muscle, after a second dose of Pfizer’s vaccine. Because Moderna and Pfizer’s vaccines both use the same mRNA technology, the risk is thought to be similar.

In guidance issues last month, the JCVI said the risk of a youngster dying from Covid was just one in a million. The main benefit of vaccinating children is to protect older adults, which has made the move somewhat controversial.

A spokesperson for the department said: ‘We welcome the news that Moderna’s vaccine has been approved as safe and effective for people aged 12 and over.

‘As has been the case with all other approvals, we will now be guided by the independent Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) and have asked for its formal recommendation on whether to administer this vaccine to people aged 12 to 17.

Meanwhile, separate data today revealed Covid was blamed on more than one in 20 of all deaths in England and Wales at the start of August

New Zealand is plunged into a three-day lockdown and Auckland for a whole week over just ONE case of coronavirus

New Zealand has been plunged into a snap lockdown after a single mystery Covid case was found in Auckland, the nation’s first locally-acquired case since February.

The entire country will enter a three-day Level Four lockdown from 11.59pm Tuesday, while Auckland and the Coromandel Peninsula will suffer under the rules for at least a week.

Kiwis will be locked in their homes for all but essential reasons, with businesses forced to shut and masks mandatory whenever a person leaves the house.

A 58-year-old Auckland man, who is unvaccinated, tested positive on Tuesday and is believed to have been infectious for the last five days. He had travelled with his wife to Coromandel — which is on the east of the North Island — at the weekend.

The case is being assumed to be infected with the highly contagious Indian Delta strain until genome testing results come back on Wednesday.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern urged the country to follow the rules ‘to the letter’ amid fears the highly-transmissible variant could undermine New Zealand’s brutal ‘zero-Covid’ strategy.

‘All young people aged 16 to 17, clinically vulnerable children aged 12 to 15 and people who live with adults who are immunosuppressed will be offered a first dose of a Pfizer jab by Monday 23 August.’

Originally, the JCVI said in July that the Pfizer vaccine should not routinely be given to 16 and 17-year-olds.

But it U-turned earlier this month because of a rise in the number of infected teenagers getting seriously ill with the Delta variant. NHS data shows around 20 Covid-infected children aged between six and 17 are being admitted to hospital every day currently.

For comparison, the rate was in single figures until the start of July, when the third wave began to spiral rapidly. There were two days in May where no youngsters were hospitalised.

The tiny numbers of children who become seriously ill is the main argument used by critics of No10’s decision to expand the roll-out to youngsters. Data also suggests around one in 15,000 teenage boys given Pfizer’s jab will develop myocarditis – which can lead to heart failure.

It has raised concerns about the risk-benefit ratio for children, especially boys, who may be up to 14 times more likely to be struck down with the complication. But other scientists agree with the UK’s move to vaccinate children, saying cases of the condition appear to usually be mild.

Any increase in prevalence tips the risk-benefit balance in favour of jabs because the dangers posed by Covid are skewed higher.

Professor Finn, a paediatrician at Bristol University, said while most young people will only have the virus in a mild form, the vaccines will be effective at preventing serious cases.

Meanwhile, separate data today revealed Covid was blamed on more than one in 20 of all deaths in England and Wales at the start of August.

Some 527 death certificates mentioned Covid in the week ending August 6 – up 30.4 per cent on the seven days prior. This equated to 5.2 per cent of the total – the highest proportion since March, according to the Office for National Statistics. Additionally, it marked the eighth consecutive week that the proportion of deaths blamed on Covid has been on rise in England and Wales.

In total, 9,537 deaths were registered in England that week, 13.1 per cent above the five-year average, while there was 634 recorded deaths in Wales, 10.8 per cent higher than the average.

The figures reflect the impact of the country’s third wave of Covid, which was sparked by the highly-transmissible Indian variant which began spreading in mid-May. As well as the lag in getting ill, the ONS figures are delayed by a further week and a half due to how long it can take to process fatalities.

The relatively low number of deaths in the third wave so far, when compared with the second wave of the virus, reflects the success of the roll-out of the country’s jab roll-out. Covid vaccinations have prevented between 81,300 and 87,800 deaths in England alone, health chiefs estimate.

Of the 527 deaths registered across the two nations, the majority (411, 78 per cent), occurred in the over-60s.

And the fatalities tended to drop through the age groups, with 58 deaths recorded among people in their 50s, 29 among people in their 40s, 22 in people in their 30s and five in people in their 20s.

One child aged between five and nine died with the virus, as well as a baby less than one-year-old. Across England, deaths from all causes increased from 9,481 to 9,537 in the most recent week.

Fatalities increased in five of the nine regions of the country, with the largest hike being seen in the South East, which recorded 51 more deaths. And deaths linked with the virus rose in all regions apart from Yorkshire and the Humber, where fatalities linked with the virus dropped from 65 to 57.

The biggest rise in Covid-related deaths was seen in the South East, where the figure more than doubled in a week, from 25 to 56.

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