A sign featuring the AstraZeneca Plc logo stands at the company's DaVinci building at the Melbourn Science Park in Cambridge, U.K (Photographer: Jason Alden/Bloomberg) AstraZeneca said on Monday its vaccine for the novel coronavirus could be around 90% effective without any serious side effects, the latest drugmaker to unveil positive interim data in a scientific race to curb a global pandemic.
The vaccine developed by Oxford University was 90% effective in preventing COVID-19 when it was administered as a half dose followed by a full dose at least one month apart, according to data from the late-stage trials in Britain and Brazil.
Another dosing regimen showed 62% efficacy when given as two full doses at least one month apart and the combined analysis from both dosing regimens resulted in an average efficacy of 70%. All results were statistically significant.
No serious safety events related to the vaccine have been confirmed and it was well tolerated across both dosing regimens, it said.
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“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,” Pascal Soriot, Astra’s chief executive, said in a statement.
The British drugmaker’s preliminary trial results mark a fresh breakthrough in the fight against a pandemic that has killed nearly 1.4 million people and roiled the global economy.
The interim analysis was based on 131 infections among participants who received the vaccine and those in a control group who were given an established menengitis shot.
The data comes after U.S. rivals published interim data in recent weeks showing efficacy of more than 90%.
On Nov. 16, U.S.-based Moderna Inc said its experimental vaccine proved to be 94.5% effective based on an early data analysis.
A week earlier, Pfizer Inc and Germany’s BioNTech SE said their vaccine candidate had demonstrated greater than 90% efficacy that rose to 95% with analysis of full trial data.
Russia’s Sputnik-V vaccine on Nov. 11 was also shown to be more than 90% effective, though only based on 20 infections.
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