Coronavirus Treatment: Oxford vaccine against Covid-19 in final stage of trials

New Delhi : The University of Oxford and AstraZeneca Plc.'s experimental drug has become the first to enter final stage of clinical trials to assess how effective it is for treating people from coronavirus infection that has infected more than 9.5 lakh people across the world.

The ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine, which has been licensed to AstraZeneca will be given to 10,260 adults and children in the next stage in the UK. The vaccine is now under trial in South Africa and Brazil, with Serum Institute of India (SII) investing $100 million to mass-produce one billion doses for India and other low-and-middle-income countries.

The vaccine is made from the ChAdOx1 virus, which is a weakened version of a common cold virus (adenovirus) that causes infections in chimpanzees; it has been genetically changed so it can’t cause infection in humans.

"The clinical studies are progressing very well and we are now initiating studies to evaluate how well the vaccine induces immune responses in older adults, and to test whether it can provide protection in the wider population," said Professor Andrew Pollard, head of the Oxford Vaccine Group, in a statement on Wednesday.

In June 22, the World Health Organization said that there were 13 experimental vaccines in clinical trials and another 129 in the preclinical evaluation stage.