AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine development resumes after green signal from UK
After the UK’s approval, AstraZeneca has started a trial of the Corona vaccine at Oxford University. Recently, a the trial had to be stopped after a volunteer had fallen sick.
The biopharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca is developing this vaccine in collaboration with Oxford. After being successful in the first and second phases, its third phase trial was going on but it was stopped due to health deterioration of a volunteer. It is believed that if the trial is completed properly, it will enter the market by the beginning of next year.
In the third phase of the vaccine trial, around 30,000 volunteers from the United States, Britain, Brazil and South Africa were involved. Trial was stopped in all these countries alongwith India after the the issue surfaced. A spokesman for AstraZeneca said that any volunteer who participated in the trial was put on hold until an independent agency was examined in the event of a deteriorating health for any reason so that the procedure would be trusted.
The spokesperson had stated that the opposite effect was seen on only one volunteer during the trial. We are committed to complete safety and testing according to set standards. After the matter came to light, the World Health Organization (WHO) said that top priority in the corona vaccine case was its priority. WHO chief scientist Dr. Soumya Swaminathan had said that the disease is a ‘wake-up call’ in the trial of AstraZeneca vaccine. This should not disappoint the scientists.
Oxford University, meanwhile, has said that in such a big test it is feared that some participants will be unwell. Every case is carefully evaluated and safety is ensured. The vaccine has been given to about 18,000 people worldwide under trial. We are committed to protecting partners by adopting the best standards in our study. Continuous in-depth evaluation will be done regarding safety.
Trial of Oxford University’s Corona vaccine in India was stopped. The Serum Institute of India, which is conducting trials in India, had said that we have also stopped the process until AstraZeneca starts the trial again. We are following the instructions of DCGI.
On Wednesday, drug regulator Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) VG Somani issued a show cause notice to the company asking why the company had not stopped the trial keeping in mind the safety of the people even after the trials were stopped in the rest of the world. Is not. Now that Britain has given the go ahead to the vaccine trial. It is expected that the trial will be started in India soon.
