Oxford Vaccine Trial Put on Hold over Safety Concern

admin September 9, 2020 Daily Current Affairs

AstraZeneca Plc has put a hold on the late-stage trial of its highly-anticipated COVID-19 vaccine candidate after a suspected serious adverse reaction in a study participant.
The study is testing a COVID-19 vaccine being developed by AstraZeneca and University of Oxford researchers at sites including India, the United States and the United Kingdom, where the adverse event was reported.
Nine leading U.S. and European vaccine developers pledged to uphold scientific safety and efficacy standards for their experimental vaccines despite the urgency to contain the coronavirus pandemic.
The companies, including AstraZeneca, Pfizer Inc and GlaxoSmithKline, issued what they called a “historic pledge” after a rise in concern that safety standards might slip in the face of political pressure to rush out a vaccine.
The other signatories were Johnson & Johnson, Merck & Co, Moderna Inc, Novavax Inc, Sanofi and BioNTech.