The Russian Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine will be tested in conjunction with the Italian drug ReiThera. RIA Novosti was told about this by the director of the Italian National Institute of Infectious Diseases Lazzaro Spallanzani, Professor Francesco Vaya.
Vaja said that in the upcoming studies, about 90 volunteers will receive ReiThera in combination with another vaccine – either messenger RNA from Pfizer or Moderna, or adenovirus based on the Gamaleya Center or the Swedish-British company AstraZeneca. “If we can succeed, then we can create a 'mixed exposure' vaccine that could be very powerful in the fight against coronavirus,” the scientist said.
Vaya also spoke about upcoming studies of the Russian vaccine at the Rome Institute. According to him, a group of Russian scientists will arrive in Italy shortly after the signing of the corresponding agreement, and the first results of their joint work may be published in April. The director of Spallanzani said that scientists will study how effective Sputnik V is against British, Brazilian and South African strains of coronavirus.
Earlier, the head of health of the central region of Italy, the administrative region of Lazio, Alessio D'Amato, denied the statement of the European Commissioner for Internal Market Thierry Breton that the Russian Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine was unnecessary for the European Union. According to him, Europe needs many effective vaccines, since vaccination will not be limited to a few months.
Sputnik V is the first registered Russian coronavirus vaccine based on adenovirus. The drug is registered in more than 50 countries. Currently, the development of Russian scientists is among the ten best vaccine candidates in the list of the World Health Organization.
