AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine trial volunteer dies in Brazil, tests to continue

BRASILIA, Oct 22, 2020, India Today. A volunteer in Brazil’s clinical trials of a coronavirus vaccine developed by AstraZeneca AZN.L and Oxford University has died, Brazilian health authority Anvisa said on Wednesday. However, the testing of AstraZeneca-Oxford’s coronavirus vaccine, the regular said, would continue, India Today reported.

The AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine volunteer who died was a Brazilian, Federal University of Sao Paulo said. The Brazilian health authority did not provide any more details, citing the confidentiality of the volunteers involved in trials of the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine but said it had received data from an investigation into the matter.

After the reports of a coronavirus vaccine volunteer dying started doing the rounds, AstraZeneca shares turned negative and went down 1.7 per cent.

Meanwhile, Oxford University has said following an assessment of the death of a coronavirus vaccine trial volunteer in Brazil, it came to a conclusion that there have been no concerns about the clinical trial.

“All significant medical incidents, whether participants are in the control group or the coronavirus vaccine group, are independently reviewed. Following a careful assessment of this case in Brazil, there have been no concerns about the safety of the clinical trial and the independent review in addition to the Brazilian regulator has recommended that the trial should continue,” Oxford University told CNN.

A person familiar with the matter has said that the volunteer, who died during the clinical trials of the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine, had not received the vaccine shot. Citing an unnamed source, Brazilian newspaper O Globo said the deceased volunteer had received a placebo and not AstraZeneca’s vaccine shot.

Brazil has the second deadliest outbreak of coronavirus, with more than 155,000 killed by the coronavirus infection, following only the United States. It is the third-worst outbreak in terms of cases, with more than 5.2 million infected, after the United States and India. Brazil reached 1 million cases in June and now is up to 5.2 million for the pandemic.

ASTRAZENECA US TRIALS THIS WEEK

In another coronavirus vaccine update, the US trials of AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine, which were halted in September when a UK participant became ill, are set to resume this week, according to a Reuters report.

The trials are set to resume in the United States after the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) completed its review of a serious illness in a volunteer.

Meanwhile, AstraZeneca PLC and Oxford University are nearing an analysis of their UK coronavirus vaccine trial.

CHINESE DRUG MAKER TO SET UP VACCINE PRODUCTION LINES

A state-owned Chinese drugmaker is setting up production lines to supply 1 billion doses of two possible coronavirus vaccines that are being tested on 50,000 people in 10 countries, the company chairman said Tuesday.

China’s fledgling drug industry is part of a global race to produce a vaccine and has four candidates in final stages of testing.

Health experts say, however, that even if China succeeds, stringent certification rules in the United States, Europe and Japan might mean its vaccine can be distributed only in other developing countries.

UK TO INFECT HEALTHY UK HEALTHY VOLUNTEERS WITH VIRUS FOR TRIALS
UK researchers are preparing to infect healthy young volunteers with the virus that causes coronavirus, becoming the first to announce plans to use the controversial technique to study the disease and potentially speed up the development of a vaccine that could help end the pandemic.

This type of research, known as a human challenge study, is used infrequently because some consider the risk involved in infecting otherwise healthy individuals to be unethical.

But researchers racing to combat coronavirus say that risk is warranted because such studies have the potential to quickly identify the most effective vaccines and help control a disease that has killed more than 1.1 million people worldwide.

(With AP and Reuters inputs)