AstraZeneca said on Friday it was examining the impact of a new variant of the coronavirus that is spreading rapidly in South Africa on its vaccine and antibody cocktail, adding that it hopes its combined drug will retain its effectiveness.

The World Health Organization (WHO) on Friday designated a new variant of COVID-19 B.1.1.529, detected in South Africa with a large number of mutations, as “of concern”.

AstraZeneca has distributed 2 billion doses of its vaccine globally, although the vaccine rollout was halted in South Africa in February after it was found to offer minimal protection against mild to moderate illnesses caused by the disease. beta variant, which was dominant in the country at the time.

“As with all new emerging variants, we are looking at B.1.1.529 to learn more about it and its impact on the vaccine,” AstraZeneca said in a statement, adding that it was conducting research in Botswana and Eswatini. to collect data.

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“This will allow us to collect real-world data from Vaxzevria against this new virus variant. “

The Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical company pointed out that the vaccine has been shown to be effective against all of the worrying variants of SARS-CoV-2.

AstraZeneca said it had developed a vaccine platform to respond quickly to new variants with the University of Oxford, where the vaccine was created. He previously said he was working on a vaccine variant to better target the beta variant.

The company has also developed a cocktail of antibodies that can be used to both prevent and treat COVID-19.

Although some scientists have expressed concern that mutations in the spike protein could hamper the effectiveness of monoclonal antibody drugs, the combination drug made by AstraZeneca may retain its effectiveness, the company said.

“We are also testing our combination of long-acting AZD7442 antibodies against this new variant and hope that AZD7442 will retain its efficacy as it includes two potent antibodies with different and complementary activities against the virus,” he said. he declares.

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