AstraZeneca’s house in Luton, Britain.
Tim Ireland | Xinhua News Agency | Getty Images
Phase three tests for AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine have resumed in the UK after they were stopped earlier this week due to safety concerns, the company announced on Saturday.
AstraZeneca said it has received confirmation from the Medicines Health Regulatory Authority of the United Kingdom that it is safe to resume clinical trials. The company declined to release medical information about suspending the trial, but indicated earlier this week that an investigation into a possible unexplained illness was underway.
The company said it had “voluntarily paused the standard review process for all global trials in September” so that independent committees and internal regulators could review the safety data.
The company will continue to work with health officials around the world and be guided when other clinical trials can resume providing comprehensive, uniform and no-profit vaccines during the epidemic, The Strazeneca said in a statement.
Oxford University, which developed the vaccine in partnership with AstraZeneca, said on Saturday that about 18,000 people have been vaccinated in the tests so far.
In large experiments like this, it is expected that some participants will be upset and each case must be carefully evaluated to ensure a careful assessment of safety, Oxford said in a statement.
STAT News reported earlier this week that AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot said during a private conference call that a woman in the UK had a “potentially debilitating illness” associated with spinal cord injury called transverse myelitis. The call was made by investment bank JP Morgan, STAT reported.
On the same call, Soriot also confirmed that the clinical trial of AstraZeneca was discontinued once in July after participants experienced neurological symptoms, but the disease was not found to be related to the experimental vaccine.
The potential coronavirus vaccine of AstraZeneca, called AZD1222, is leading the race towards a safe and effective vaccine that can put acne in a global epidemic. The company began its end-phase tests in late August. In late-stage tests, along with Pfizer and Moderna, he is one of at least three vaccine candidates.
The United States has invested more than 10 billion in six efforts to bring the coronavirus vaccine to market. On May 21, the U.S. announced that it would invest 2 1.2 billion in AstraZeneca’s efforts in exchange for at least 300 million doses if the candidate proved safe and effective.
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