Sputnik V Effective Against Omicron, Say Developers

Russian anti Covid-19 vaccine, Sputnik V, has two times higher virus neutralizing antibodies to the Omicron variant than the Pfizer vaccine, announced its developers on Wednesday based on a preprint study.

“A unique independent comparative study conducted at the National Institute for Infectious Diseases Lazzaro Spallanzani (Italy) by a joint team of researchers of the Institute and the Gamaleya Center showing that 2 doses of Sputnik V provide more than 2 times higher geometric mean titers (GMT) of virus neutralizing antibodies to the Omicron variant of COVID than 2 doses of Pfizer vaccine (2.1 times higher in total and 2.6 times higher 3 months after vaccination),” said the vaccine developers, Gamaleya Center and Russian Direct Investment Fund, in a statement.

According to the researchers, boosting with Sputnik Light as part of the “mix and match” approach may help address the lower efficacy of mRNA vaccines against Omicron as well as the documented, quickly waning, efficacy of mRNA vaccines against Covid-19. Partnerships between adenoviral and mRNA vaccines could provide for stronger protection against the omicron and other variants.

Sputnik Light is the first component of the two-dose Sputnik V vaccine.

“Based on the data collected by the Spallanzani Institute and results of previous studies, heterologous (“mix & match”) boosting with Sputnik Light is the best solution to increase other vaccines’ efficacy and extend the booster protection period as optimal adenoviral platform configuration provides better protection against Omicron and other mutations..,” read the statement.

The developers also said that Sputnik Light has already shown strong results as a booster in “mix and match” trials in Argentina. A combination of Sputnik Light with vaccines produced by AstraZeneca, Sinopharm, Moderna and Cansino, conducted in 5 provinces (city and province of Buenos Aires, as well as Córdoba, La Rioja and San Luis) has demonstrated that Sputnik Light induces stronger antibody and T-cell response as compared to a homologous regimen (two shots of the same vaccine).

“The joint study confirmed the results obtained in our separate study published in December 2021. The hard scientific data proves Sputnik V has higher virus neutralizing activity against Omicron as compared to other vaccines and will play a major role in the global fight against this new contagious variant,” said Alexander Gintsburg, Director, Gamaleya Centre.

Each vaccine cocktail combination with Sputnik Light provided higher antibody titer on the 14th day after administering a second dose when compared to original homologous (same vaccine as first and second dose) regimens of each of the vaccines.

“As duration of vaccine protection is key to avoid frequent boosting, authors of another study in Argentina have noted that protection against coronavirus remains stable following vaccination with the Russian Sputnik V vaccine as a consequence of antibody maturation, resulting in improved potency of antibodies to viral escape mutations,” said the researchers in the paper.