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AstraZeneca still considers it possible to get a vaccine “before the end of the year.”
It is still possible to obtain a COVID-19 vaccine that will be available by the end of the year, British pharmaceutical group AstraZeneca said on Thursday, despite the announced interruption in clinical trials of its experimental vaccine, developed with the University of Oxford, reports AFP.
“We could still have a vaccine by the end of the year, the beginning of next.”said the company’s CEO, Pascal Soriot, during an online conference, hosted by the Tortoise media group, and according to comments confirmed by an AstraZeneca spokesperson.
Soriot explained, however, that the decision to resume clinical trials does not depend on his group, but rather on a committee of independent experts.
During the conference, the French director reiterated that such a break in clinical trials is not abnormal, but had more resonance given the interest shown in this vaccine, considered one of the most promising in the world.
The decision to suspend clinical trials was made after the onset of a “potentially unexplained illness”, possibly a serious side effect, in a study participant in the United Kingdom, AFP notes.
The vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford, one of the most advanced Western projects, is being tested in tens of thousands of volunteers in the United Kingdom, Brazil, South Africa and, since August 31, the United States, in the third and third year. the last phase of clinical trials to verify safety and efficacy.
In the latest data update published Wednesday, the World Health Organization (WHO) lists 35 “candidate vaccines” that are currently being evaluated in human clinical trials around the world. Nine of them are already in the final stage or are about to enter this stage.
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) estimates that “it could take at least until early 2021 for a COVID-19 vaccine to be ready for approval and available in sufficient quantities” for global use.
