AstraZeneca Says Covid-19 Vaccine Results Are Expected This Year

Pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca announced earnings this week that may have been lackluster but Wall Street was more preoccupied with the company revealing that its Covid-19 vaccine results are expected this year.

For the third quarter the Anglo-Swedish drug maker reported that revenue rose 3% to $6.5 billion and profits fell 1% to $1.8 billion.

AstraZeneca is working with the University of Oxford to develop one of the most closely watched COVID-19 vaccines. It is currently in late stage trials in the U.S., the U.K. and other countries to determine its safety and effectiveness.

Once those results are reported, regulators will have to approve the vaccine for widespread use.
The company said it would analyze data from its vaccine trials this month and next month. CEO Pascal Soriot said if the results look promising, it will move quickly to ramp up manufacturing and obtain government approval in the U.S. and elsewhere.

“We will be ready to supply hundreds of millions of doses of vaccine around the world starting January,” Soriot said on the earnings conference call Thursday.

The company had originally scheduled to deliver millions of vaccines by September but a slow down of the progress in human trials that relied on subjects being exposed to the disease naturally caused a delay.

The trials had also stopped in September after one participant experienced adverse reactions. AstraZeneca and Oxford restarted trials again in October.

AstraZeneca officials said that they are also developing a “long-acting antibodies” treatment that they said would boost immune systems and protect vulnerable populations from future COVID-19 outbreaks. According to the company, the treatment would protect for six months or a year depending on dosage.

Disclaimer: We have no position in any of the companies mentioned and have not been compensated for this article.