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The Pasteur Institute of France said on Monday it was ending the development of a Covid-19 vaccine with the American pharmaceutical company Merck after the results of the clinical tests were disappointing.
The partners announced an agreement last May to develop a vaccine based on an existing measles vaccine, which was put into Phase 1 clinical trials in August.
“In these first human trials, the potential vaccine was well tolerated, but it produced lower immune responses than those seen in people who recovered naturally and those seen in authorized vaccines,” said a statement from the Pasteur Institute.
The announcement is yet another blow to hopes for a vaccine led by France, following recent news that leading national pharmaceutical company Sanofi is also struggling to bring its candidate vaccine to market.
Sanofi announced in December that its jab would be ready at best by the end of 2021, and the group is now being encouraged by the government to help produce rival vaccines that have already been authorized for use in Europe.
This includes products from the German-American association BioNTech / Pfizer and the American pharmaceutical group Moderna.
Britain has also authorized the use of a vaccine developed by the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca, which is being evaluated by European Union regulators.
The Pasteur Institute, named after pioneering scientist Louis Pasteur who developed a rabies vaccine in 1885, said it was working on two other Covid-19 vaccines that are not yet ready for clinical testing.
The decision to abandon the Covid vaccine based on a measles vaccine “has no impact on continuing the Pasteur Institute’s research on two other vaccine candidates using different methodologies,” he said.
(AFP)