Chennai: Oxford University and AstraZeneca became the first Covid-19 vaccine makers to publish final-stage clinical trial data in a scientific journal, clearing a key hurdle in the global race to produce safe and effective drugs for the coronavirus.
The study, published in Lancet medical journal, confirmed that the vaccine works in an average of 70 percent of cases.
AstraZeneca is the first to have its trial efficacy results confirmed in a scientific paper, the Lancet said.
Andrew Pollard, the director of the Oxford Vaccine Group who led the study, said publication showed developers were sharing data ‘transparently’, adding that a range of vaccines would be needed.
“This really can’t be a competition between developers, this has to be a competition against the virus,” he told a press briefing.
The study showed the vaccine had an efficacy of 62 percent for those given two full doses, and of 90 percent in those given a half, then a full dose.
AstraZeneca and Oxford faced questions about their results when they released an overview last month, after it emerged that the half dose was given because of a mistake.
There were also concerns that this half-dose group — 1,367 participants — did not include adults over the age of 55 years.
AstraZeneca said it would be up to regulators to decide dosing recommendations based on the data provided.
The results are likely to present a ‘dilemma’ for drug authorities, said Simon Clarke, Associate Professor in Cellular Microbiology at the University of Reading.
He said while the half-dose regime showed better protection against disease and also in reducing asymptomatic transmission, the group was ‘relatively small’ and did not contain older people.
AstraZeneca said in a statement that it has begun giving data to regulators around the world and is seeking World Health Organization emergency use authorisation to speed up potential availability in low-income countries. If approved, it is aiming to produce up to three billion doses in 2021.