LONDON (Reuters) – An experimental coronavirus vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford was safe and produced an immune response in early-stage clinical trials, the data showed on Monday, keeping alive the hope that it might be in use. for the end of the year .
FILE PHOTO: An employee is seen at the Reference Center for Special Immunobiologicals (CRIE) of the Federal University of Sao Paulo (Unifesp) where tests of the coronavirus Oxford / AstraZeneca vaccine are carried out, in Sao Paulo, Brazil, June 24, 2020 REUTERS / Amanda Perobelli
Called AZD1222, the vaccine has been described by the chief scientist at the World Health Organization as the leading candidate in a global race to stop a pandemic that has claimed more than 600,000 lives.
More than 150 potential vaccines are in various stages of development with US pharmacist Pfizer and CanSino Biologics of China also reporting positive responses for their candidates on Monday.
The AstraZeneca and Oxford University of Great Britain vaccine did not cause any serious side effects and elicited immune responses of antibodies and T cells, according to the results of the trial published in the medical journal The Lancet, with the strongest response observed in people who they received two doses.
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, whose government has helped finance the project, called the results “very positive news.”
However, the researchers cautioned that the project was still at an early stage.
“There is still a lot of work to be done before we can confirm whether our vaccine will help control the COVID-19 pandemic,” said vaccine developer Sarah Gilbert.
“We still don’t know how strong the immune response we must elicit to effectively protect against SARS-CoV-2 infection,” he said, adding that researchers must learn more about COVID-19 and continue late-stage trials than have already started.
AstraZeneca shares rose 10%, but then abandoned most of those gains, to trade 1.2% stronger on the day.
AstraZeneca has signed agreements with governments around the world to supply the vaccine if it is effective and gets regulatory approval. The company has said it will not seek to take advantage of the vaccine during the pandemic.
Adrian Hill, director of the Jenner Institute at Oxford University, said the first projections that a million doses of the vaccine could be made in September could be an understatement, depending on how quickly the late-stage trials can be completed. .
He added that it was still possible that the vaccine could be in use by the end of the year.
The researchers said the vaccine caused minor side effects more often than a control group, but some of these could be reduced by taking paracetamol.
AZD1222 was developed by the University of Oxford and licensed from AstraZeneca, which has put it into large-scale and advanced-stage trials to prove its effectiveness. It has also signed agreements to produce and supply more than 2 billion doses of the injection.
The new trial included 1,077 healthy adults ages 18 to 55 with no history of COVID-19.
Alistair Smout Report; additional reports from Pushkala Aripaka and Kate Kelland; Edmund Blair, Mark Potter and Carmel Crimmins Edition
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