AstraZeneca Covid-19 Vaccine Trials Resume in the U.K.

By Peter Loftus 

AstraZeneca PLC said Saturday clinical trials for its experimental coronavirus vaccine have resumed in the U.K. after regulators concluded it was safe to do so, following a pause in studies globally after a person who received the vaccine had an unexplained illness.

Trials in other countries, including the U.S., remain paused while AstraZeneca works with national health authorities, the company said.

AstraZeneca said Tuesday it paused trials globally of a vaccine it licensed from the University of Oxford after a vaccinated woman in the U.K. experienced the unexplained illness, which a U.S. official described as a spinal cord problem.

The pause gave independent committees and country regulators time to evaluate the case and determine whether it would be safe for testing to begin again.

A U.K. committee has concluded its investigation and recommended to the U.K. Medicines & Healthcare products Regulatory Agency it would be safe to resume the trials. The regulatory agency confirmed that it was safe to resume, the company said.

The MHRA couldn't immediately be reached for comment.

AstraZeneca said it couldn't disclose further medical information.

Write to Peter Loftus at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 12, 2020 11:18 ET (15:18 GMT)

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