Coronavirus vaccine AstraZeneca trials to resume in UK
Clinical trials for the AstraZeneca-Oxford coronavirus vaccine, AZD1222, that were halted after a patient developed serious health issue, have resumed in the UK following confirmation by the Medicines Health Regulatory Authority (MHRA) that it was safe to do so. Following the suspension of vaccine trials, touted to be one of the most promising ones, Serum Institute of India (SII) had also halted Phase 2-3 trials in India.
On September 6, the standard review process had triggered a voluntary pause to vaccination across all global trials to allow review of safety data by independent committees and international regulators. It is now expected that since trials in UK have resumed, the same drill should follow for India also.
The UK committee has concluded its investigations and recommended to the MHRA that trials in the UK are safe to resume, AstraZeneca said on Saturday.
"AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford as the trial sponsor cannot disclose further medical information. All trial investigators and participants will be updated with the relevant information and this will be disclosed on global clinical registries, according to the clinical trial and regulatory standards," it added.
AstraZeneca is committed to the safety of the trial participants and highest standards of conduct in clinical trials.
"The company will continue to work with health authorities across the world and be guided as to when other clinical trials can resume to provide the vaccine broadly, equitably and at no profit during this pandemic," the company said.
AZD1222 was co-invented by the University of Oxford and its spin-out company, Vaccitech. It uses a replication-deficient chimpanzee viral vector based on a weakened version of a common cold virus (adenovirus) that causes infections in chimpanzees and contains the genetic material of the SARS-CoV-2 virus spike protein.
After vaccination, the surface spike protein is produced, priming the immune system to attack the SARS-CoV-2 virus if it later infects the body.
(With inputs from IANS)
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