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Oxford vaccine trial put on hold after participant experience adverse reactions

Oxford vaccine trial put on hold after participant experience adverse reactions
The trials of the Oxford/AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine, called AZD1222, were suspended last month after a participant developed an unexplained illness in the US.

The testing of the Oxford COVID-19 vaccine has been put on hold due to a serious adverse reaction in a participant in the UK. Read on to know more

Written by Jahnavi Sarma |Published : September 9, 2020 3:43 PM IST

The global coronavirus cases have surpassed the 27.5 million mark, while the number of the deaths have increased to over 897,000, according to the Johns Hopkins University. As of Wednesday morning, the total number of cases stood at 27,570,742 and the fatalities rose to 897,383, the University's Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) revealed in its latest update. The US accounted for the world's highest number of cases and deaths at 6,327,009 and 189,653 respectively, according to the CSSE. India came in the second place with 4,370,128 infections and 73,890 deaths. With many vaccines nearing completion of trials, hopes for relief from the COVID-19 pandemic are in the minds of most people. But the scientific community pragmatically expected setbacks in the journey to vaccine development and rightly so. But hopes are high, and many expect a vaccine in the market early next year.

Now, in this environment of optimism, there comes an unfortunate news. The testing of COVID-19 vaccine being developed by AstraZeneca and University of Oxford has been put on hold due to a serious adverse reaction in a participant in the UK. Stat News reported that a large, Phase 3 study testing a COVID-19 vaccine being developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford at dozens of sites across the US has been put on hold due to a suspected serious adverse reaction in a participant in the United Kingdom.

'It's routine', says spokesperson

A spokesperson for AstraZeneca, a frontrunner in the race for a COVID -19 vaccine, said that the company's "standard review process triggered a pause to vaccination to allow review of safety data." In a follow up statement, AstraZeneca said it initiated the study hold. The nature of the adverse reaction and when it happened were not immediately known, though the participant is expected to recover, Stat News reported. The spokesperson described the pause as "a routine action which has to happen whenever there is a potentially unexplained illness in one of the trials, while it is investigated, ensuring we maintain the integrity of the trials." The spokesperson also said that the company is "working to expedite the review of the single event to minimize any potential impact on the trial timeline."

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'An abundance of caution' behind trial hold

An individual familiar with the development said researchers had been told the hold was placed on the clinical trial out of "an abundance of caution." A second individual familiar with the matter, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, said the finding is having an impact on other AstraZeneca vaccine trials underway -- as well as on the clinical trials being conducted by other vaccine manufacturers, according to the Stat News report. AstraZeneca only began its Phase 3 trial in the US in late August. The US trial is currently taking place at 62 sites across the country, according to clinicaltrials.gov, a government registry, though some have not yet started enrolling participants. Phase 2/3 trials were previously started in the UK, Brazil, and South Africa.

(With inputs from IANS)