Korfluvek (COVID-19 coronavirus vaccine)

Coronavirus vaccines in Russia

2022: Vaccine will also protect against influenza, clinical studies have begun

St. Petersburg Research Institute of Influenza named after A.A. Smorodintsev in September 2022 announced that his vaccine against coronavirus COVID-19 will also protect against influenza. Clinical studies of this combined nasal drug have begun.

According to the director of the research institute Dmitry Lioznov, by mid-September 2022, the institute justifies and shows the effectiveness against coronavirus, but the next study will be carried out on the effectiveness against influenza infection.

This is a means that will protect and protect against COVID-19, but an additional highlight is that this drug still protects against influenza, - said Lioznov.

Korfluvec vaccine

He also expressed the hope that the drug will be available to Russians in 2023.

At the end of August 2022, the Ministry of Health issued a permit for a clinical trial of the Korfluvek nasal vaccine for the prevention of COVID-19. According to the State Register of Medicines, a phase I/II clinical trial is being conducted. The efficacy and safety of nasal vector vaccine will be evaluated in healthy volunteers aged 18 to 60 years.

The study plans to include 250 volunteers. Tests will be carried out on the basis of two medical centers located in St. Petersburg: FGBU "Research Institute of Influenza named after A.A. Smorodintsev" and FGBU "First St. Petersburg State Medical University named after Academician I.P. Pavlov." The study will be completed at the end of 2022.

According to Daria Danilenko, director of research at the Research Institute of Influenza, the vaccine was developed on the basis of an attenuated influenza vector and in the future the drug will be used against influenza and COVID-19.

The State Register has registered two nasal vaccines for the prevention of a new coronavirus infection (by September 2022): Gam-COVID-Vac from the Gamaleya Center and Salnavak from the company Generium^[1]

Main article: Vaccines against coronavirus COVID-19 in Russia

2021: Creation of a vaccine against COVID-19 in the form of nasal drops

On October 20, 2021, the Solodintsev Research Institute of Influenza announced the creation of its vaccine against the coronavirus COVID-19, which it called Korfluvek. The drug will be produced in the form of nasal drops.

According to Daria Danilenko, deputy director of the Research Institute for Scientific Work of the Institute, Korfluvek was created on the basis of an attenuated (weakened and non-pathogenic for people - by analogy with the already registered Sputnik V of the Gamaleya Center) influenza vector. It is used as a vector for the delivery of coronavirus proteins, the immune response to which should provide protection against the disease. The conserved part of the influenza virus will be used to enter the cells. Scientists at the institute hope that the vaccine will prove itself against influenza.

Research Institute of Influenza named after Smorodintseva created his own vaccine against coronavirus

According to Danilenko, the vaccine will provide early control of infection, reduce the severity of the disease, form cross-protection (protection from several strains of influenza and COVID-19 at once) and limit the transmission, "since this vaccine is injected into those places where the pathogen gets where this infection is born."

Vaccine registration is scheduled for 2022. By October 20, 2021, the preclinical tests of Korfluvek have already been completed, in the near future the phase of clinical testing will begin, in which all interested Petersburgers can participate. The vaccine will ensure early control of infection and reduce the severity of the disease.

Understanding how the genetic characteristics of the virus are related to epidemiological characteristics is important to assess the possibilities of combating it. The effectiveness of vaccines that are used to protect against it and the effectiveness of the drugs that we use in treatment depend on the variability of the virus, "said Daria Danilenko.

It is assumed that the vaccine will go into civilian circulation in the winter-spring of 2022.^[2]

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