(Adds details, background, comment from U.S. trial
investigator)
LONDON, Feb 5 (Reuters) - AstraZeneca expects to have
results from a U.S. clinical trial of its COVID-19 vaccine in
the next four to six weeks, the company's research chief Mene
Pangalos said on Friday.
Asked when the late-stage U.S. trial would read out,
particularly given high rates of transmission of the SARS-CoV-2
virus during the months since it began in August, Pangalos
agreed the rates had been high in "the latter period" of it,
suggesting that was why the read out would come later.
Some experts had expected the data sooner than that, given
the high infection rates in the United States during the period
of testing.
"I think we're getting very close to getting data. I would
say in the next four to six weeks we should have the results for
that study reading out," he told reporters.
The former chief adviser for the U.S. government's Operation
Warp Speed COVID vaccine development program had said in
December that he was expecting U.S. trial data in January.
One of the U.S. trial investigators, who was not authorised
to speak on behalf of the company, said on Friday the trial now
had enough data to do an interim analysis, and investigators
were cleaning the data so that data safety monitors could start
analysing it.
"We're all hoping that there will be some data for them to
be able to put together a report for the FDA to apply for
emergency use authorization by the end of the month (February),"
the investigator said.
AstraZeneca and its partner, Oxford University, say their
COVID-19 vaccine, which is already approved for emergency use in
about 50 countries, has 76% efficacy against symptomatic
infection for three months after a single dose, and that this is
increased if the second shot is delayed.
(Reporting by Alistair Smout and Kate Kelland in London, and by
Julie Steenhuysen in Chicago. Editing by Elizabeth Piper)
Astrazeneca (AZN)
