Corbevax offers better immunity as heterologous booster shot: Biological E

Hyderabad: The Hyderabad-based biopharma company, Biological E Limited, which has recently received approval for its Covid vaccine Corbevax, from union Health Ministry, as a heterologous Covid-19 booster dose, on Friday said that the vaccine could play an ideal role in mitigating the spread of the Covid-19 mutations.

“The Corbevax could be an ideal choice for booster dose because it offers effectiveness against both Delta and Omicron variants and improves cellular immune response,” the biotech company on Friday in a statement said.

The pharma giant from Hyderabad in August of this year received emergency use authorization for its Corbevax Covid vaccine as a heterologous booster dose, which means that persons aged 18 years and above after six months of receiving two doses of Covaxin or Covishield can get administered with Corbevax as a booster shot.

A study by Lancet on the effectiveness of heterologous and homologous boosters showed that the heterologous booster offers higher protection than the homologous booster. There is an increase in the immune response to the administration of heterologous booster shots on two counts, first cellular immunity and second, neutralizing antibodies, the statement said.

Administering the Corbevax vaccine as a heterologous booster dose will provide significant enhancement in immune response and excellent safety profile in people who have already taken two doses of Covishield or Covaxin, it said.

Heterologous booster shots have gained significance in light of the waning effect of vaccine doses, especially against different variants of the virus. Earlier, countries were administering homologous booster shots. However, a heterologous booster was cleared by several countries, including the US, UK, Israel, etc., for emergency use as it showed increased immunity levels and was more effective compared to homologous shots.

The vaccine manufacture from Hyderabad had undertaken a multi-centre Phase III placebo-controlled heterologous booster clinical trial among fully vaccinated 416 subjects aged 18 to 80 years. The Corbevax heterologous booster achieved a 5.5 to 6.7 fold (geometric mean fold rise) rise in neutralizing antibody titres.

Subjects tested for neutralizing antibodies against Omicron also showcased a significant increase in antibody titres after receiving CORBEVAX as a heterologous booster shot. About 75 to 91 percent of these subjects showed neutralizing antibodies against Omicron Variant.

The trial concluded that the Corbevax booster dose is safe and well tolerated, with no serious or grade 3 adverse events or adverse events of special interest during the three months of the follow-up period, the press release said.