[ad_1]
A participant in a corona vaccine clinical study has experienced health problems. The British pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca is investigating the case.
The logo of the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca above the company entrance in Cambridge. (File image)
Keystone / Alastair Scholarship
The pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca stopped the clinical study of its corona vaccine as a precautionary measure after one of the participants developed health problems.
This is a routine measure for such cases, the British company announced Wednesday night. “In a large series of experiments, diseases occur randomly, but they must be examined by an independent party to verify this thoroughly.”
AstraZeneca will expedite the investigation so that the vaccine approval process is delayed as little as possible, he said. The ultimate goal of the review is to determine if the health problems were caused by the vaccine. During the arrest, no more study participants should be vaccinated and people who have been vaccinated should continue to be observed.
Unspecified health problems are an isolated case, the company stressed. The vaccine is in the third and final phase of studies in the United States, among others, with tens of thousands of participants.
Inflammation in the spinal cord.
AstraZeneca did not provide any information on the disease. The New York Times reported, citing an informed person, that the health problem was transverse myelitis, an inflammation that hits the spinal cord and can be caused by viral infections.
The active ingredient AZD1222 manufactured by AstraZeneca is based on the weakened version of a chimpanzee cold virus and is supposed to activate the immune system so that it can render Sars-CoV-2 harmless in the event of an infection.
AstraZeneca and eight other pharmaceutical and biotech companies had only given guarantees Tuesday that they would not compromise safety by developing a corona vaccine.
This unusual move came in light of concerns that there could be political pressure, especially in the US, to urgently approve the first vaccines before the November 3 presidential election.
The president of the United States, Donald Trump, promises almost daily that there will be a vaccine by the end of the year or possibly by the time of the elections.
