AstraZeneca announced that the trial of its vaccine candidate has resumed in the United States (representation)
Washington, United States:
On Friday, two major clinical trials for experimental Covid-19 vaccines resumed in the United States, offering a silver lining as the number of cases skyrocketed across the country.
COVID-19 has now killed more than 223,000 Americans, and the health crisis is a major issue in the presidential election pitting Donald Trump against Joe Biden.
AstraZeneca has announced that the trial of its vaccine candidate, developed with the UK University of Oxford, has resumed in the United States, the only country where it was suspended following a participant’s illness six weeks ago. .
“The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today authorized the restart in the United States, following the resumption of trials in other countries in recent weeks,” said the drugmaker.
The trial was suspended worldwide on September 6, but resumed soon after in Britain and in the following weeks in South Africa, Brazil and Japan, as authorities determined that the disease did not was apparently not related to the vaccine.
“The FDA has reviewed all the safety data from the trials around the world and concluded that it is safe to repeat the trial,” AstraZeneca said.
The company added that it hopes to see results later this year, “depending on the rate of infection in the communities where clinical trials are being conducted.”
The AstraZeneca / Oxford vaccine project is one of the most promising and advanced in the world to fight the global pandemic, which has claimed the lives of 1.1 million people.
It is one of 10 candidate vaccines tested on tens of thousands of people in so-called phase 3 trials.
In the United States, the two main candidates vying for the green light from the FDA are those of Pfizer and Moderna. The two plan to seek approval next month.
Many countries rely on the use of the AstraZeneca / Oxford vaccine to inoculate their populations.
The drugmaker has pre-sold hundreds of millions of doses across multiple continents and signed partnership agreements with other producers to ensure the doses could be made locally.
Vaccine “without proof” to blame
Shortly after AstraZeneca’s announcement, Johnson & Johnson said they were preparing to resume recruiting for their parallel trial, which was suspended last week after a volunteer fell ill.
“After a thorough evaluation of a serious medical event experienced by a study participant, no clear cause was identified,” the group said in a statement.
“The company found no evidence that the vaccine candidate caused the event.”
Just before Friday’s announcements, a senior U.S. official involved in Operation Warp Speed, the government’s vaccination initiative, said he expected the J&J trial to resume soon.
Paul Mango, of the US Department of Health and Human Services, also said he expected the country to have enough doses to vaccinate “most vulnerable” Americans before the end of the year.
“By the end of January, we think we will be able to vaccinate all the elderly,” Mango said, adding that by March or April, “we think we will be able to vaccinate any American who wishes a vaccination “.
(Except for the title, this story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is posted from a syndicated feed.)
