- AstraZeneca released details of its latest clinical trial results, but a U.S. safety board raised concerns that the data may be “outdated.”
- Results published on March 22 were based on an interim analysis of data from the phase 3 clinical trial, which included more than 32,000 participants in the United States, Chile, and Peru.
- AstraZeneca released another statement on March 23 saying that it will work with the safety board to review the current data and release the results of its analysis within 48 hours.
The COVID-19 vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford had an efficacy rate of 79 percent against symptomatic disease and 100 percent against severe disease and hospitalization in a new clinical trial, the company said Monday.
“Seventy-nine percent efficacy against symptomatic disease is very good,” said Dr. Sarah George, associate professor of infectious diseases at Saint Louis University School of Medicine. “There were also no cases of severe disease in the vaccinated group, so that’s good.”
These results are based on an interim analysis of data from the drugmaker’s phase 3 clinical trial, which included more than 32,000 participants in the United States, Chile, and Peru.
At the time of the analysis, 141 trial participants had developed symptomatic COVID-19, with most of the cases occurring in people who received an inactive placebo.
The results were announced in a press release, so the details are sparse.
Since then, an independent U.S. safety board overseeing the vaccine trial has raised concerns about the information released by AstraZeneca.
Source: healthline