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Pascal Sorio AstraZeneca CEO. / Photo = REUTERS
Pascal Sorio (CEO 61) of AstraZeneca, a multinational pharmaceutical company based in London, United Kingdom, was confident in the success of the new vaccine against coronavirus infection (Corona 19) developed with the University of Oxford on the 27th.
CEO Sorio told the Sunday Times of the Daily The Times, “I think we have discovered a successful formula that can benefit from two doses of the vaccine like other competitors.”
In an interview conducted by Burns while staying at his home in Sydney, Australia, he said: “It is 100% preventable” and “I cannot say in detail because we will launch a vaccine at some point.”
The COVID-19 vaccine developed jointly by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford showed different immunity effects depending on the dose as a result of an interim analysis of the phase 3 clinical trial.
When the full dose of the vaccine was given twice, the prevention rate was only 62.1%, but when the first half of the dose and the second full dose were given, the prevention rate increased to 90.0% .
The average prevention rate is 70.4%, which is less effective than the vaccine developed by Pfizer, a US pharmaceutical company, and Bioentech, Germany (95%), and a vaccine developed by the US pharmaceutical company Modena (94, 5%).
CEO Sorio said he was “surprised” when he first discovered that different doses of vaccine had different immune effects. “I knew for sure that people might be a little disappointed,” he said. “Of course, I wish the results were simpler, but because they met the standards set by regulatory authorities around the world, I evaluated them positively,” he added. “I didn’t expect a storm to come.”
When AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford announced their interim clinical results last month, criticism emerged over the difference in efficacy based on dosage, and the share price fell 3.8%.
CEO Sorio said AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford are currently working on a new version of the vaccine. I hope it is not necessary, but it is explained that it is because preparations such as the variant of the corona virus 19 that appeared in South Africa are necessary.
On the 21st, AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford applied for the emergency use of the Corona 19 vaccine manufactured by both companies to the UK Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Authority (MHRA). MHRA, which conducts non-stop deliberations even during the Christmas holidays, can announce whether the vaccine is approved for emergency use as of the 27th, the Daily Telegraph reported.
Compared to other vaccines, the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine is cheaper and can be stored in a general refrigerator, so the transport process is not difficult.
Reporter Ahn Jung-rak [email protected]
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