LONDON, Feb 6 (Reuters) - British drugmaker AstraZeneca
said on Saturday it believed its COVID-19 vaccine
developed with the University of Oxford could protect against
severe disease caused by the South African variant of the virus.
AstraZeneca confirmed that early data from a small trial,
first reported by the Financial Times, had shown limited
efficacy for the vaccine against mild disease primarily due to
this variant.
"We do believe our vaccine could protect against severe
disease, as neutralising antibody activity is equivalent to that
of other COVID-19 vaccines that have demonstrated activity
against more severe disease, particularly when the dosing
interval is optimised to 8-12 weeks," a spokesman said in a
statement.
(Reporting by Andy Bruce; Editing by Daniel Wallis)