Sputnik V effective against Delta, other variants of coronavirus, says RDIF study

By Sahil Pandey
New Delhi [India], July 12 : The Gamaleya National Research Center of Epidemiology and Microbiology and the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF, Russia's sovereign wealth fund) on Monday announced strong results of the study on neutralizing the activity of sera from individuals vaccinated with Sputnik V vaccine against new variants of SARS-CoV-2.
The company said, vaccination with Sputnik V has produced protective neutralizing titers against new variants, including Alpha B.1.1.7 (first identified in the UK), Beta B.1.351 (first identified in South Africa), Gamma P.1 (first identified in Brazil), Delta B.1.617.2 and B.1.617.3 (first identified in India) and Moscow endemic variants B.1.1.141 and B.1.1.317 with mutations in the receptor-binding domain (RBD).
"The methodology was based on the assessment of virus-neutralizing activity (VNA) using the live virus, which provides the most reliable data and is the gold standard. It compared neutralizing activity of Sputnik V induced sera to the internationally relevant variants with the neutralizing activity to the ancestral B.1.1.1 variant. The sera were obtained from individuals after vaccination with two doses of Sputnik V," the company said.
The study methodology was described in the research paper published in vaccines leading international journal on July 12, 2021.
"Sputnik V pioneered the vaccine cocktail approach with two shots. The tests conducted by the Gamaleya Center have demonstrated the validity of this approach as the virus-neutralizing activity against new strains, which are more dangerous and infectious, remains higher than that of many other vaccines. RDIF will continue supporting further studies of the efficacy of Sputnik V against new strains while also analyzing opportunities to partner with other leading vaccine producers for developing vaccine cocktails using the first shot of Sputnik V," said Kirill Dmitriev, CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF).
Virus neutralizing activity assay is not directly related to the effectiveness of a vaccine.
"The data confirms that Sputnik V remains protective against newly detected variants. Notably, Sputnik V demonstrated significantly less of a reduction in its virus-neutralizing activity against a number of variants compared to data from other vaccine producers, which had earlier confirmed the efficacy of their vaccines against new variants of coronavirus," as per the company.
The Gamaleya Center and RDIF are also studying new opportunities to develop vaccine cocktails jointly with other leading COVID vaccine producers using the first component of Sputnik V.
"Our studies have demonstrated strong results of Sputnik V against new variants of SARS-CoV-2. We receive more evidence of the ability of coronavirus to transform and mutate across the globe. Today Sputnik V is one of the most effective vaccines against both original and new variants of coronavirus thanks to its unique approach of using two different adenoviral vectors as a delivery mechanism," said Alexander Gintsburg, Director of the Gamaleya National Research Center of Epidemiology and Microbiology.
Sputnik V has been registered in 67 countries globally with a total population of over 3.5 billion people.
According to the company, the real-world data obtained during the vaccination of the population in a number of countries, including Mexico, Argentina, Serbia, Bahrain, Hungary, San-Marino, UAE and others, demonstrates that Sputnik V is one of the safest and most effective vaccines against coronavirus.