Operation Warp Speed is living up to its name as, according to the project, one of the leading candidates for the COVID-19 vaccine, AstraZeneca, is partnering with life science services company IQVIA to boost its work on the shot.
Under the plan, the financial details of which were not disclosed, contract research organization IQVIA and AstraZeneca team up to “drive faster delivery of clinical trials in the US aimed at demonstrating the efficacy of the potential COVID-19 vaccine. of AstraZeneca, AZD1222, “the pair said in a brief update.
This is an important contract for IQVIA, formerly Quintiles and IMS Health, which at the start of the pandemic saw most of its clinical trials affected, like many other CROs, by discontinuation of COVID-19.
The two added: “This initiative includes an expansive topic study, which is expected to start enrolling participants this summer and will take advantage of IQVIA’s virtual testing solutions, including Study Hub,” meaning they will try to use so-called virtual technology or with no place to test and avoid these interruptions.
Its shares rose about 2% on the news on July 14.
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In May, researchers at the University of Oxford began enrolling subjects in a phase 2/3 clinical trial of the AZD1222 vaccine associated with AstraZeneca.
AZD1222 works as a recombinant adenovirus vaccine and, along with Moderna and Pfizer / BioNTech, is seen as a top candidate, and Oxford researchers recently said they could start shipping the vaccine starting in September if the trials go well. . The team quickly advanced to mid-stage tests with efficacy trials planned later this year.
Numerous governments have already signed deals with the drug maker to order doses, including a deal over the weekend from Italy, France, Germany and the Netherlands worth $ 843 million per 300 million doses. Prior to that agreement, AstraZeneca agreed to provide doses to the United Kingdom and signed a $ 1.2 billion agreement with the United States government for hundreds of millions of doses.
The company has also entered into agreements with the Coalition for Outbreak Preparedness Innovations and Gavi, the vaccine alliance, plus the Indian Whey Institute, to allow access in low- and middle-income countries.
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