AstraZeneca and Oxford University team up on Covid-19 vaccine plan
Pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca on Thursday said it has partnered with the University of Oxford to work on a Covid-19 vaccine.
The collaboration aims to bring to patients the potential vaccine known as ChAdOx1 nCoV-19, being developed by the Jenner Institute and Oxford Vaccine Group, at the University of Oxford.
Under the agreement, AstraZeneca would be responsible for development and worldwide manufacturing and distribution of the vaccine.
Shares in AstraZeneca, which yesterday reported its first-quarter sales jumped 16% to $6.35 billion (£5.1 billion), gained 135p to 8342p.
The potential vaccine entered phase one clinical trials last week. Data from that could be available next month.
Pascal Soriot, chief executive of AstraZeneca, said: “Our hope is that, by joining forces, we can accelerate the globalisation of a vaccine to combat the virus and protect people from the deadliest pandemic in a generation.”
Business secretary Alok Sharma said the tie-up is “a vital step that could help rapidly advance the manufacture of a coronavirus vaccine”.
