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AstraZeneca, the company collaborating with the University of Oxford on a coronavirus vaccine, is poised to run an additional test of the jab.
CEO Pascal Soriot said it followed the accidental discovery that it worked best when a half dose was given, followed by a full dose.
“Now that we’ve found what looks like better efficacy, we need to validate this, so we need to do an additional study,” Soriot told Bloomberg.
AstraZeneca Says New Study Will Be International
It is likely to be an “international study, but this could be faster because we know the efficacy is high, so we need fewer patients,” he added.
The development is unlikely to stop regulatory approval in the UK, Soriot said.
Earlier this week, it was announced that the vaccine is up to 90% effective in COVID-19 prevention, when half a dose is administered first.
When two full doses were given at least one month apart, it was 62% effective.
A total of 2,741 people participated in the course, which was 90% effective, while 8,895 received two complete measures.
Professor Andrew Pollard, director of the Oxford Vaccine Group, has said that the 90% effectiveness finding has already met the “necessary statistical evidence as required by regulators.”
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‘We have a vaccine for the world’
But the chief science officer for America’s Operation Warp Speed has raised concerns, the program to distribute vaccines across the United States.
Moncef Slaoui told reporters that the half-dose regimen was administered only to people 55 and younger.
Peter Openshaw, professor of experimental medicine at Imperial College London, said that if only those under 55 were confirmed to have received half a dose first, “it may mean we don’t have any information on this regimen in older adults.”
He added: “All we have to do is publish limited data.”
Paul Hunter, professor of medicine at the University of East Anglia, said: “Since many vaccines are less effective in older people, we must be even more cautious in taking this 90% efficacy at face value, at least for the elderly. old people. “
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Prime Minister expects jab to advance by Easter
Menelas Pangalos, AstraZeneca’s head of biopharmaceutical research and development, has said the discovery of half-dose efficacy was made after a contractor made a mistake.
He said regulators were immediately informed and agreed to continue testing the vaccine to different measures.
The half dose “could end up being a pretty useful mistake,” Pangalos told the New York Times.
Shares in AstraZeneca, an FTSE 100 company, closed the day down 0.7% in London.
A Moderna vaccine has been shown to be 94.5% effective.
The University of Oxford said it would not comment before the data appears in a peer-reviewed publication.
But in a statement, he said: “During phase three of the trials, our UK study used two dose levels.
“The selection of the starting dose, which was agreed with the regulators, was based on the same concentration measurement (using spectrophotometry) that was used in the phase one study, but as a result of a difference in the manufacturing process For the subsequent study, this was later shown that the method overestimated the dose in new lots of vaccine, resulting in half the vaccine dose being administered as the first dose.
“We have different ways of measuring the concentration of the vaccine and when it was apparent that a lower dose was used, we discussed it with the regulator and agreed on a plan to test both the lower dose / higher dose and the higher dose / higher dose, allowing us to include both approaches in the phase three trial.
“The methods for measuring concentration are already in place and we can ensure that all vaccine lots are now equivalent.”
Other hits, from Pfizer Y Modern, They were recently shown to be 95% and 94.5% effective, respectively.
