A few days after the suspension of its tests, AstraZeneca goes back to work.
This Saturday, the firm announced in a statement the resumption of its clinical trials in the United Kingdom to find a vaccine against the coronavirus, AZD1222.
The company explains that it has obtained confirmation from the British Medicines Health Regulatory Authority (MHRA) "
that it was safe
" to resume testing.
Read also: Covid-19: AstraZeneca considers a vaccine possible this year despite the break
The interruption of its tests around the world had been decided on September 6 and announced Tuesday, after the discovery of a "potentially unexplained disease" in one of the participants.
Since then, an investigation has been carried out by independent committees and international regulators.
The company finally got the green light from the MHRA to resume its tests across the Channel.
This Saturday, the pharmaceutical group specifies that it cannot disclose other medical information.
An industrial partner of the University of Oxford, the company presents one of the most advanced Western projects in the race to find a vaccine against the epidemic which has been sweeping the globe for several months.
Their project has been tested on several thousand volunteers in the United Kingdom and elsewhere, such as Brazil, South Africa or the United States.
AstraZeneca wanted to be reassuring about the "
pause
" announced earlier this week: it was only a "routine action
that is required as soon as a potentially unexplained disease appears in one of the trials, during the investigation. , in order to maintain the integrity of the trials,
”a spokesperson said.
On Thursday, the company remained confident and felt that a vaccine was within reach.
"
We could still have a vaccine by the end of the year, early next year
," wanted to believe the director of the group, Pascal Soriot.