AstraZeneca (AZN -0.25%) said Thursday that it remains on track to be able to report data from the late-stage trials of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate despite a pause that lasted most of September and October, maintaining the company among the leaders in the race for a coronavirus vaccine.
AstraZeneca's phase 3 trials for AZD1222 were paused on Sept. 6 due to the unexplained illness of a trial participant, and didn't resume until Oct. 23. At that time, the company said it still expected results this year, and management confirmed that outlook during its third-quarter earnings conference call Thursday. It also said that AstraZeneca should be able to supply "hundreds of millions" of doses of AZD1222 in January, assuming the trials are successful and the vaccine receives regulatory approval by the end of the year.
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The company also announced that phase 3 trials were starting for its long-acting antibody combination treatment, which could protect against SARS-CoV-2 infection for up to 12 months, even in patients with compromised immune systems who don't respond well to vaccines. About 10,000 people are expected to participate in those studies, including a cohort of people who have been diagnosed with COVID-19, and also healthy subjects who will be testing it as a prophylaxis. The first data readout from those trials is expected early in 2021. AstraZeneca says it has committed to supply at least 2 million doses of the antibody treatment, dubbed AZN7442, in 2021.
