AstraZeneca announced Monday that its coronavirus vaccine was 70.4% effective in preventing COVID-19 in late-stage clinical trials held in the United Kingdom and Brazil.
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According to the drugmaker, there were no hospitalizations or severe cases of COVID-19 in those who got the vaccine, and there were a total of 131 COVID-19 cases in the early analysis.
This is the third vaccine to show promising results. Last week,Pfizer and Biotech said their vaccine was 95% effective in final analysis and Moderna said its vaccine is 94.5% effective. Pfizer and Biotech have submitted their vaccine to the FDA for emergency use authorization.
In September, AstraZeneca paused its study after a participant developed an illness.
According to the drugmaker, the trials used two different dosing regimens. One had 90% efficacy when it was given as a half dose at first and then a full dose at least a month later. The other regimen had 60% efficacy when given two full doses at least a month apart. Combined analysis gave them the 70% efficacy rate.
The company said they will conduct more analysis and continue to accumulate data, and now will seek an emergency use listing from the World Health Organization. That would give the vaccine an accelerated path to get to low-income countries.
Professor Andrew Pollard, Chief Investigator of the Oxford Vaccine Trial at Oxford, said: “These findings show that we have an effective vaccine that will save many lives. Excitingly, we’ve found that one of our dosing regimens may be around 90% effective and if this dosing regime is used, more people could be vaccinated with planned vaccine supply," Andrew Pollard said. He's the chief investigator of the Oxford Vaccine trial. "Today’s announcement is only possible thanks to the many volunteers in our trial, and the hard working and talented team of researchers based around the world.”
Pascal Soriot, Chief Executive Officer, said: “Today marks an important milestone in our fight against the pandemic. This vaccine’s efficacy and safety confirm that it will be highly effective against COVID-19 and will have an immediate impact on this public health emergency. Furthermore, the vaccine’s simple supply chain and our no-profit pledge and commitment to broad, equitable and timely access means it will be affordable and globally available, supplying hundreds of millions of doses on approval," AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot said.
