Nordic Life Science 1
Siri Torhaug, CMO, Nykode Therapeutics RESEARCHER
S AT UNIVERSITY of Copenhagen, Statistics Denmark and Statens Serum Institut (SSI), investigated nearly 12,000 Danish households in mid-December, and found that Omicron was 2.7 to 3.7 times more infectious than the Delta variant among vaccinated Danes. Their research suggests that the virus is mainly spreading more rapidly because it is better at evading immunity obtained from vaccines. “Our findings confirm that T HE T-CELL EPITOPE vaccine candidate, VB10.2210, encodes a combination of conserved and immunodominant T-cell epitope hotspots spanning multiple SARS-CoV-2 antigens. The VB-D-01 trial is a two-arm, open label, dose escalation and dose expansion study to evaluate safety, reactogenicity and immunogenicity of both the T-cell-specific/ VB10.2210 and the RBD/VB10.2129 vaccine candidates in healthy, previously vaccinated subjects. Single versus two-dose administrations of each vaccine will also be explored in the dose escalation phase. This is being conducted in Norway at the Oslo University Hospital, and the Haukeland University Hospital, Bergen. “The emergence of the Omicron variant highlights the paramount need for next-generation COVID vaccines designed to be minimally impacted by future variants of concern such as Omicron,” says Siri Torhaug, CMO, Nykode Therapeutics. the rapid spread of the Omicron (variant) primarily can be ascribed to the immune evasiveness rather than an inherent increase in the basic transmissibility,” the researchers say. The study also found that booster-vaccinated people are less likely to transmit the virus, regardless of the variant, than the unvaccinated. NORDIC LIFE SCIENCE 21