COVID-19 Beta-containing vaccine provides 75.1% efficacy in participants previously infected with coronavirus.

Sanofi and GSK have announced positive data from their vaccine trial which evaluated an adjuvanted Beta vaccine candidate. This included 75.1% efficacy in previously infected participants.

The duo’s vaccine is the first candidate to demonstrate efficacy in a placebo-controlled trial in an environment of high Omicron variant circulation. The vaccine candidate showed a favourable safety and tolerability profile throughout the study.

Earlier this month Sanofi reported positive data from two trials conducted with its new next-generation COVID-19 booster vaccine candidate modelled on the Beta variant antigen and including GSK’s pandemic adjuvant.

The data supporting this next-generation booster vaccine will be submitted to regulatory authorities and indicate the potential of Sanofi/GSK’s Beta-based booster to become a formidable response to public health needs.

Thomas Triomphe, executive vice president of vaccines at Sanofi was confident that the vaccine would make a difference across the world: “Today’s results reinforce the strong potential for the Beta antigen to confer broad protection against multiple strains that cause COVID-19. With the immunogenicity data from our Beta-booster vaccine, they support our belief that, in a largely seropositive world, a next-generation Beta booster vaccine could provide protection against variants like Omicron.”

Roger Connor, president of GSK Vaccines, added: “This positive data shows the efficacy of our protein-based, bivalent adjuvanted vaccine candidate in an environment of high Omicron variant circulation. Our vaccine candidate has the potential to make an important contribution to public health as the pandemic evolves further. We are looking forward to the discussions with regulatory authorities with the aim of making our vaccine candidate available later this year.”