The deceased had not received the vaccine. (Bloomberg)
A participant who died in a trial of AstraZeneca Plc’s Covid-19 vaccine in Brazil had not received the company’s vaccine, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The person has asked not to be identified because the information is not public.
Brazilian health authority Anvisa said it was informed of the death of the study volunteer on Monday and received a partial report from an international committee assessing the safety of the trial. This committee suggested that the trial continue, Anvisa said in a statement.
AstraZeneca, which is developing the vaccine with the University of Oxford, said it was unable to comment on individual cases due to privacy rules and clinical trials. Oxford has no concerns about the safety of the vaccine trial after careful independent review, and Brazilian regulators have recommended that it continue, University communications officer Stephen Rouse said in a statement.
AstraZeneca’s U.S. certificates of deposit fell 3.3% in New York on Wednesday afternoon after the person’s death was announced, but reduced most of those losses in recent trades.
Trial break in the United States
A clinical trial of the vaccine in the United States has been on hold for more than a month. Studies were halted around the world in September when a British participant fell ill, but have resumed in the UK, Brazil, South Africa and India in recent weeks. While temporary breaks in vaccine studies are common, AstraZeneca and Oxford have faced pressure to disclose more information about the episode in the UK.
The halt to the US trial raised concerns about the prospects for one of the fastest gunshots in the world and highlighted the hurdles researchers face when developing a vaccine. Another vaccine maker, Johnson & Johnson, said earlier this month it would suspend its trial to investigate a disease in a study participant.
The AstraZeneca and J&J vaccines are both based on adenoviruses, common cold germs that researchers have used in experimental therapies for decades, and the two suspended trials have raised questions about the approach.
AstraZeneca told analysts in early October that it expected the US study to resume this year and that global approval would be determined by test results outside of the United States.
(Except for the title, this story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is posted from a syndicated feed.)
