AstraZeneca to Manufacture Oxford University’s COVID-19 Vaccine Candidate

AstraZeneca has entered into an agreement with Oxford University to develop and distribute Oxford’s COVID-19 vaccine.

If clinical trials show that the vaccine is effective, AstraZeneca will lead the development, worldwide manufacturing and distribution of the vaccine.

The vaccine candidate entered phase 1 trials last week in healthy volunteers aged 18 to 55 across five centers in southern England. Early data could be available as soon as this month, and then advanced-to-late stage trials are expected to get underway within weeks.

The partners have agreed to operate on a not-for-profit basis during the pandemic. Oxford will not seek royalties during the pandemic and will reinvest any subsequent royalties into a new Pandemic Preparedness and Vaccine Research Center that is being developed in collaboration with AstraZeneca.

The partnership is the first to be announced since the UK launched a vaccines taskforce two weeks ago. The government is providing $24.6 million for the Oxford trials (DID, April 23). — Jordan Williams