Covid-19 vaccine makers study new variant’s impact

The impact the new variant will have on vaccines could become clear relatively soon.

BioNTech, which works with Pfizer said it’s beginning lab studies on the variant and should have the first data on how it interacts with the vaccine within two weeks.

“In the event that [a] vaccine-escape variant emerges, Pfizer and BioNTech expect to be able to develop and produce a tailor-made vaccine against that variant in approximately 100 days, subject to regulatory approval,” a company spokeswoman said in an email.

Moderna said on Friday that it is also working on a high-dose version of the booster, new multivalent boosters and a new booster specific to Omicron. Moderna said it is typically able to get new experimental vaccines into testing in 60 to 90 days.

“The mutations in the Omicron variant are concerning and for several days, we have been moving as fast as possible to execute our strategy to address this variant,” said Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel.

Mutations may also help Omicron elude the antibody treatments, such as Roche Holding and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals’ Ronapreve, that have become a mainstay of therapy for people who can’t muster an adequate immune response on their own.

Roche’s researchers are studying the new variant, said spokesman Karsten Kleine, and it’s too early to say how it will interact with the antibody cocktail.

GlaxoSmithKline, which markets a Covid antibody with Vir Biotechnology, said it believes its antibody will probably work against the variant because it targets part of the spike protein that’s shared among many different, distantly related coronaviruses.

The company is working urgently to confirm that in the lab, it said in a statement.

Johnson & Johnson, the maker of a one-dose Covid-19 shot, is already testing its vaccine against B.1.1.529 variant, CNBC reported, citing the company.