Image Source: Marketwatch

Agencies:

Coronavirus | COVID-19 vaccine still possible this year: AstraZeneca

September 10, 2020

Drugs giant AstraZeneca on Thursday said a COVID-19 vaccine could still be available by as early as the end of the year, despite a randomized clinical trial being paused.

“We could still have a vaccine by the end of this year, early next year,” the U.K based company’s Chief Executive Pascal Soriot said in comment at a media event.

AstraZeneca announced on Wednesday it had “voluntarily paused” its trial of a drug developed alongside Oxford University after a U.K volunteer developed an unexplained illness.

An independent committee was drafted in to review safety but the company said it was a “routine action” designed to maintain the integrity of the trials.