Oxford researcher says future strains may be protected against

Sir John Bell, a professor at the University of Oxford in the UK, told CNBC on Wednesday that he was convinced that the Covid-19 vaccines could be rearranged to provide effective protection against future mutations in the coronavirus.

Bell’s comments on “Closing Bell” come as global attention focuses on a strain of the virus widespread in the UK that may spread more easily than previous variants. It has since been detected in Colorado and California.

“It will be a cat-and-mouse game now,” said Bell, who helped oversee the development of the Oxford vaccine in partnership with AstraZeneca. The UK government granted this authorization for emergency use of the vaccine on Wednesday, after issuing a limited authorization for the vaccine Pfizer and BioNTech earlier this month.

Studies are underway to officially determine whether the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine protects against the new strain of virus, Bell said. “We think they probably can, but we just want to be absolutely sure.”

“Given the level of disease in the UK with the new variant … we’re going to have many examples of people who have received the vaccine and who have been exposed to the virus, and we can tell pretty quickly if the vaccine protects. effectively against this strain, ”added Bell.

In addition to the variant coronavirus found in Britain, a separate strain first found in South Africa has been developed. Officials from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Wednesday it could also be circulating in America.

Bell told CNBC he believed the variant discovered in South Africa had mutations that made it “slightly more worrying” than the strain prevalent in the UK.

“If we’re going to make new vaccines, we can make them now that we’ve done the initial work. I’m sure our friends with RNA vaccines can do the same,” Bell said. The Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines were developed using messenger RNA technology, a new approach that uses genetic material to elicit an immune response. The Oxford-AstraZeneca viral vector vaccine uses a weakened version of a common cold virus that causes infections in chimpanzees.

“We are ready if we have to make another vaccine to approach it,” Bell added. He also noted that the development process to update the vaccines is unlikely to require the same large-scale clinical trials conducted this year, but only immunogenicity studies to ensure it elicits an immune response.

It is not uncommon for viruses to mutate, according to Dr. Scott Gottlieb, former Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration who sits on the Pfizer board of directors. “Some viruses like the flu change their surface proteins very quickly, and that’s why we need a different flu shot every season,” he told CNBC earlier this month.

Gottlieb said he also believes existing vaccines will protect against the strain of virus transmitted in the UK due to the way the vaccines target the entire peak protein of the coronavirus.

“We are developing antibodies against many different regions of this protein, so even if part of this protein were mutated and some antibodies no longer recognize it, there would be antibodies against other parts of this protein”, a- he declared. “So it probably won’t pass our vaccines very easily, but eventually we will have to update the vaccines.”

Disclosure: Scott Gottlieb is a CNBC contributor and serves on the boards of directors of Pfizer, genetic testing startup Tempus, and biotech company Illumina. Gottlieb is also co-chair of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings ′ and the Royal Caribbean Healthy Sail Panel.