Good news in the fight against Covid around the world... Russian vaccine Sputnik V - that sparked debates because of lack of transparency in the clinical trial results among other - has been subject to another assessment of data, after they have been released, by a team of independent experts. Results have been published this Tuesday February 2, 2021 in The Lancet and show the vaccine is 91.6% effective against coronavirus and not 95% as announced months agao.
"The development of the Sputnik V vaccine has been criticised for unseemly haste, corner cutting, and an absence of transparency. But the outcome reported here is clear and the scientific principle of vaccination is demonstrated" Professors Ian Jones and Polly Roy - two British scientists who worked on the assessment - explained. Results then ranking this vaccine among the best, after Pfizer/BioNTech and their 95% effective product, and AstraZeneca 90% effective vaccine and 94.5% effective vaccine by Moderna.
Developed by the Gamaleya institute, the Russian vaccine have been in lots of talks over the past months. Praised by Vladimir Putin himself, the vaccine already delivered encouraging results, as medical journal The Lancet reported in an article released on September 4, 2020.
Like AstraZeneca, Sputnik V is a viral vector vaccine based on inactivated virus to eradicate Covid from the cells. Yet, there is one difference, with AstraZeneca vaccine: while it uses chimpanzee's adenovirus, Sputnik V uses two human adenoviruses, both different for each injection. This difference that - according to Russian searchers - may cause a better immune response to the virus.
Anyway, “The release in The Lancet is a meaningful response to skeptics who unreasonably criticized the Russian vaccine” Russian sovereign fund director entrusted with developing and marketing the vaccine Kirill Dmitriev said.
This past November 11, the Russian Investment Fund says that in the 16,000 participants to the Sputnik V vaccine clinical trial, 20 have caught coronavirus. The Russian sovereign fund adds the risk of catching the virus was below 92% in people vaccinated with their vaccine, in comparison with those who have been inoculated a placebo.
On Tuesday November 24, the Gamaleya laboratory announces that according to preliminary results, the Sputnik V vaccine is 95% effective. These results have been achieved on volunteers 42 days after inoculating the first dose, the Russian Health Minister and the Russian Investment Fund announced. Russian scientists entrusted with developing the vaccine have also announced their research will be released shortly "in one of the main medical magazines in the world reviewed by peers".
Furthermore, the Russian Investment Fund says in the release that "The cost of one dose of the Sputnik V vaccine for international markets will be less than $10" and it will be free for Russian citizens.
Russia sought approval for marketing authorization in Europe. The European Medicines Agency is to decide on the approval in February 2021.
