On January 25, the Institut Pasteur announced in its press release the end of clinical trials for one of its three vaccine projects. What are the reasons ?
The development of the Pasteur vaccine stopped
Since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, the French Foundation has mobilized all its teams in the search for an effective treatment and vaccine against Covid-19. It recently decided to halt the development of one of its vaccine candidates, based on the measles vaccine virus. The latter was used as a transporter of the Spike protein (present on the surface of the coronavirus) to the immune system. In studies for the first administration in humans, the vaccine candidate has shown good tolerance in individuals. However, the “ induced immune responses were found to be lower than those observed in people cured of a natural infection as well as those observed with authorized vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 / Covid-19 “. The results are therefore not as good as expected. The decision not to pursue the development of this vaccine is shared by the Institut Pasteur and the Merck group, its industrial partner for this research.
The foundation continues its research
This choice does not prevent the laboratory from continuing its research on the Sars-Cov-2 virus, in particular at the therapeutic and vaccine level. Indeed, two other vaccine projects are underway and are reaching the end of the preclinical phase. A first, developed in partnership with TheraVectys, can be administered by the nasal route. The second is a DNA vaccine candidate. In addition, the research has not been in vain, since this vaccine initially intended to protect against Covid-19 is aimed at other infectious pathologies, such as Lassa fever and chikungunya. On the other hand, ” the Institut Pasteur is continuing the massive mobilization of its teams to fight the Covid-19 epidemic. In 2020, nearly 100 research programs were launched and more than 450 scientists (1/4 of its research staff) mobilized within 69 research units. “. The foundation therefore remains strongly committed to the fight against the coronavirus epidemic and wishes to strengthen its collective mobilization this year, to face ” to a worrying new phase of the pandemic linked to the emergence of several viral variants “.