A stroke of good luck from a dosing error will pave the way for AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford to submit their Covid-19 vaccine for regulatory approval.
The British pharmacist said on Monday that the vaccine could be around 90% effective, when given as a half dose followed by a full dose a month later, citing data from late-stage trials in Britain and Brazil.
“The reason we take the half dose is chance,” Mene Pangalos, AstraZeneca’s head of non-cancer research and development, told Reuters.
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A larger group that had received two full doses, as planned, resulted in an efficacy reading of 62%, leading to an overall efficacy of 70% in both dosing patterns.
At around the time Astra began its partnership with Oxford in late April, university researchers were dosing trial participants in Britain.
They soon noticed that the expected side effects, such as fatigue, headaches or arm aches, were milder than expected, he said.
“So we went back and checked … and found that they had underestimated the dose of the vaccine in half,” said Pangalos.
He added that the company decided to continue with the half dose and administer the full dose booster dose at the scheduled time.
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