AstraZeneca, Oxford University say their COVID-19 vaccine is up to 90% effective
Oxford University and drugmaker AstraZeneca say late-stage trials of their COVID-19 vaccine show it to be up to 90% effective, giving public health officials hope they may soon have access to a vaccine that is cheaper and easier to distribute than some of its rivals.
The trials looked at two dosing regimens. A half-dose of the vaccine followed by a full dose at least one month later was 90% effective, researchers reported Monday. A regimen using two full doses one month apart was 62% effective.
The combined results showed an average efficacy rate of 70%.
The results are based on an interim analysis of trials in Britain and Brazil of the vaccine, which is being developed by Oxford University and manufactured by AstraZeneca. No hospitalizations or severe cases of COVID-19 were reported in those receiving the vaccine, AstraZeneca 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,” said Andrew Pollard, the chief investigator for the trial.
“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,” AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot said. “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.”
There are still many unknowns when it comes to the pandemic, but the early signs of success for two experimental COVID-19 vaccines make a few things clear.
AstraZeneca is the third major drug company to report late-stage results for its potential COVID-19 vaccine as public health officials around the world anxiously wait for vaccines that will end the pandemic that has killed almost 1.4 million people. Two other drugmakers, Pfizer and Moderna, last week reported preliminary results from late-stage trials showing that their COVID-19 vaccines were almost 95% effective.
On Friday, Pfizer applied for emergency-use authorization in the U.S., which could bring the first shots as early as next month. Pfizer’s vaccine requires two doses, and also storage at extremely cold temperatures, presenting a logistical challenge to widespread distribution.
The AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine can be transported under “normal refrigerated conditions” of about 36 to 46 degrees, AstraZeneca said. By comparison, Pfizer plans to distribute its vaccine using specially designed “thermal shippers” that use dry ice to maintain temperatures of minus 94 degrees Fahrenheit.
“The Oxford vaccine can be stored in the fridge, as opposed to the freezer like the other two vaccines, which means it is a more practical solution for use worldwide,” said Peter Horby, an infectious-disease expert at Oxford.
California and other states are racing to finalize plans for who will get the first doses of COVID-19 vaccines and how they will be delivered.
AstraZeneca said it would immediately apply for early approval of the vaccine where possible, and it will seek an emergency-use listing from the World Health Organization so that it can make the vaccine available in low-income countries.
The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine is cheaper than the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. AstraZeneca, which has pledged not to make a profit on the vaccine during the pandemic, has reached agreements with governments and international health organizations that put its price at about $2.50 a dose. Pfizer’s vaccine costs about $20 a dose, while Moderna’s is $15 to $25, based on agreements the companies have struck to supply their vaccines to the U.S. government.
Oxford researchers and AstraZeneca stressed that they aren’t competing with other efforts, and that multiple vaccines will be needed to reach enough of the world’s population.
“We’re not thinking about vaccinations working in terms of one person at a time. We have to think about vaccinating communities, populations, reducing transmission within those populations, so that we really get on top of this pandemic,” said Sarah Gilbert, a leader of the Oxford research team. “And that’s what it now looks like we’re going to have the ability to contribute to in a really big way.”
The United States, India and Brazil have the most infections and the most deaths.
The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine combines a weakened version of a common cold virus with genetic material for the characteristic spike protein of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19. After vaccination, the spike protein primes the immune system to attack the coronavirus if it later infects the body.
Peter Openshaw, professor of experimental medicine at Imperial College London, said the finding that a smaller initial dose is more effective than a larger one is good news because it may reduce costs and mean more people can be vaccinated.
“The report that an initial half-dose is better than a full dose seems counterintuitive for those of us thinking of vaccines as normal drugs. With drugs, we expect that higher doses have bigger effects and more side-effects,” he said. “But the immune system does not work like that.”
The results reported Monday come from trials involving 23,000 people in Britain and Brazil. Late-stage trials are also underway in the U.S., Japan, Russia, South Africa, Kenya and Latin America, with further trials planned for other European and Asian countries.
“I’m just happy that anything I do can help somebody else,” Dolly Parton said upon finding out she helped fund research for Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine.
AstraZeneca has been ramping up manufacturing capacity so that it can supply hundreds of millions of doses of the vaccine starting in January, Soriot said earlier this month.
The results come as COVID-19 infection rates have risen in most U.S. states and across Europe. England is still in the middle of a four-week lockdown that has closed all nonessential shops, while in the U.S., the government’s top health agency has recommended that Americans not travel to visit family and friends over the Thanksgiving holiday this week.
Now that AstraZeneca and Oxford have released their interim results, regulators must approve the vaccine before it can be widely distributed.
Britain has ordered 100 million doses of the vaccine, and the government says several million doses can be produced before the end of the year if it gains approval from the regulator.
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British Health Secretary Matt Hancock said he felt “a great sense of relief” at the news of the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine’s effectiveness.
Just a few months ago, Hancock said that “the idea that by November we would have three vaccines, all of which have got high effectiveness … I would have given my eye teeth for.”
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