Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine shows positive results, up to 90% efficacy

Data from global trials to be submitted to the Indian regulator by the end of December

The AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine candidate has shown positive results in an interim analysis of clinical trials in the UK and Brazil, with a vaccine efficacy of up to 90 per cent in different dosing regimens. Data from the global trials would be submitted to the Indian regulator by the end of December, and Serum Institute of India (SII), AstraZeneca’s manufacturing partner here, would submit the interim data from the Indian arm by then, sources said.

“It is up to the Indian regulator to decide which dosage form it would approve for the Indian population. Data from all the dosage forms will be presented before the regulator,” a source said. The recruitment for the 1,600-volunteer Indian arm of the Covishield vaccine trial is over and the trial is in the last leg.

The regimen, with one half dose followed by a full dose after a month, has shown 90 per cent efficacy. This would enable manufacturing partners to supply more doses quicker. Pascal Soriot, chief executive officer, AstraZeneca, said: “On a half-dose basis, we will have double capacity to supply the initial doses.” The current 10-dose vial is suitable for filling the half doses as well.

Professor Andrew Pollard, chief investigator of the Oxford Vaccine Trial at Oxford, said the results were not entirely ‘surprising’. “By giving a smaller dose, we are priming the immune system, preparing it to respond better,” he said. Scientists will now study the phenomenon in detail...Read More

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