Early-Stage Trial Data on Oxford University COVID-19 Vaccine to be Published July 20

Early-stage human trial data on a vaccine being developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca will be published on July 20, The Lancet medical journal announced yesterday.

The potential vaccine is already in large-scale Phase III human trials to assess whether it can protect against COVID-19, but its developers have yet to report Phase I results which would show whether it is safe and whether or not it induces an immune response.

The developers of the vaccine said this month they were encouraged by the immune response they had seen in trials so far and were expecting to publish Phase 1 data next week. The data are expected to be published by The Lancet medical journal.

More than 100 vaccines are being developed and tested around the world to try to stop the COVID-19 pandemic, which has killed hundreds of thousands and ravaged the global economy (also see TIF’s Guide & Updates on Developing Vaccinations & Therapeutic Drugs for COVID-19).

AstraZeneca’s experimental vaccine is probably the world’s leading candidate and most advanced in terms of development, the World Health Organization’s chief scientist said in June. The company has signed agreements with governments around the globe to supply the vaccine should it be cleared for use.