AstraZeneca said Thursday they may
still be able to get their COVID-19 vaccine out by the end of
the year or the start of 2021 despite a temporary halt to
testing due to a potentially severe adverse reaction in one of
50,000 test volunteers.
AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot told the British media that the
experimental vaccine, produced with Oxford University and
Italian research lab IRBM, "could still be on the market at the
end of the year or at the beginning of 2021".
Soriot said he could not say when trials will recommence but
added that he was convinced that the project "remains on track
to have a date by the end of this year" for a request for
approval by health authorities.
The drug giant on Tuesday suspended testing of its possible
COVID vaccine after one of the participants suffered "a
potentially serious adverse reaction".
The temporary halt will enable the pharmaceuticals giant to
revise safety and security data and protocols, it said.
AstraZeneca shares fell 6% in trading in New York.
Piero di Lorenzo, CEO of the IRBM research lab in Pomezia south
of Rome, which is involved in the project, said "an adverse
clinical picture presented in only one of the 50,000 volunteers
on which the vaccine has been tested".
Di Lorenzo told ANSA Thursday that an independent expert panel
has been appointed to see if the reaction was caused by the
vaccine, and may take between a week to three months to reach
its conclusions.
Sources told ANSA a spinal infection had led to the halt, but
said the infection may not have been linked to the vaccine.
A Terni-born psychiatrist living and working in Cambridge who is
taking part in the trials, Antonio Metastasio, told ANSA
Wednesday that he was "very well" and hoped the testing would
continue.
He said the precautionary halt to testing showed "the
seriousness of the study and the safety it is being conducted
in".
Health Minister Roberto Speranza said last week that the first
doses of the new Astrazeneca COVID vaccine should be available
by the end of the year.
Over 100 potential coronavirus vaccines are being created or
tested around the world.
Australia has secured a deal with AstraZeneca to supply its
potential COVID-19 vaccine to its entire population free of
charge, becoming the latest country to lock in supplies of the
drug should trials succeed.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © Copyright ANSA
