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Coronavirus pandemic

AstraZeneca and Sputnik V investor and developer sign agreement of cooperation on vaccines

The sides agreed to boost research and business relations that will include studies to explore the potential of a combined use of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine and the AZD1222 preparation developed by the British-Swedish AstraZeneca

Participants in a meeting on the signing of a Memorandum of Intent in the area of preventing the novel coronavirus infection between the Gamaleya National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology, AstraZeneca, RDIF and R-Pharm Alexei Nikolsky/Russian presidential press service/TASS

Participants in a meeting on the signing of a Memorandum of Intent in the area of preventing the novel coronavirus infection between the Gamaleya National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology, AstraZeneca, RDIF and R-Pharm

© Alexei Nikolsky/Russian presidential press service/TASS

MOSCOW, December 21. /TASS/. The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), the Gamaleya National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology of the Russian Healthcare Ministry and the AstraZeneca and R-Pharm pharmaceutical companies have signed an agreement on development and implementation of a program of clinical trials of a combination of vaccines against the coronavirus, the RDIF reported on Monday.

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The sides agreed to boost research and business relations that will include studies to explore the potential of a combined use of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine and the AZD1222 preparation developed by AstraZeneca in order to generate a more stable and durable protection against the coronavirus.

Clinical trials of the combination of the AZD1222 vaccine with the Sputnik V human adenoviral serotype Ad26 vector will be launched soon. The R-Pharm company will also be one of the sponsors of the study.

"A schedule using two different adenoviral vectors for primary and secondary immunization, being a unique and fundamental development by specialists of the Gamaleya National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology of the Russian Healthcare Ministry, allows to circumvent immunity to the first vector, formed after the first inoculation, thereby increasing the effectiveness of the second injection thus forming a long-term immunity. Thanks to this schedule, among other things, the effectiveness of the Sputnik V vaccine surpasses 90%, and [protection] against severe cases of the disease amounts to 100%. Among the leading vaccines against the coronavirus, currently only Sputnik V possesses the technology of two different vectors," the RDIF’s statement reads.

Earlier on Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin participated in a video conference dedicated to the cooperation of the British-Swedish AstraZeneca with the Russian side on the vaccines.

On August 11, Russia became the first country worldwide to register a vaccine against the coronavirus which was named Sputnik V. On December 21, it was reported that the vaccine was registered in Belarus.

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