A COVID vaccine being developed by
Oxford University for drug multinational Astrazeneca and two
Italian firms including biomedical firm IRBM has been shown to
be up to 90% effective in phase three clinical trials,
researchers said in The Lancet on Wednesday.
Two different types of administration of the vaccine were
trialled, the British university said.
The better one, with 90% efficacy and a maximum tolerability for
the elderly, envisages the inoculation of half a dose and then a
follow-up with a full dose after a month.
The second regime, with two full doses being given at a month's
interval, has shown 62.1% effectiveness, the university said.
Oxford also carried out a combined analysis of the two regimes
which showed an average effectiveness of 70%.
AstraZeneca Vice President Pam Cheng has said some 200 million
doses of the Oxford vaccine will be available on a global level
by the end of this year.
Cheng also said that the British-Swedish drugs giant will reach
production of 700 million doses by the end of March.
She said it will be possible to produce 100-200 million does a
month for the international market next year.
Health Minister Roberto Speranza has hailed the results of the
trials.
"The news out of Oxford on the anti-COVID vaccine is
encouraging," he said.
He said "a lot of prudence is still needed, but it will be
scientific research that will bring humanity out of this
crisis".
Speranza noted that "major Italian firms" are involved in the
project, including IRBM, based at Pomezia south of Rome, and
Catalent, based at Anagni between Rome and Naples.
AstraZeneca is a British-Swedish multinational pharmaceutical
and biopharmaceutical company with its headquarters in Cambridge
and its R&D concentrated in three strategic centres: Cambridge,
Gothenburg and Gaithersburg.
IRBM Science Park is an Italian firm, founded in 2009 at Pomezia
just south of Rome, operating in the sector of molecular
biotechnology, biomedical science and organic chemistry.
Catalent is a vial and drug packaging firm.
The UK on Tuesday became the first country to start giving
people a COVID vaccine manufactured by Pfizer and BioNTech.
The first people to get the jab were Margaret Keenan, 90, and
William Shakespeare, 81, both from the central city of Coventry.
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