An independent committee was drafted in to review safety, in what the company and the World Health Organization described as a routine step. The committee “has concluded its investigations and recommended to the MHRA that trials in the UK are safe to resume”, AstraZeneca said. AstraZeneca’s vaccine candidate is one of nine around the world currently in late-stage Phase 3 human trials. The AZD1222 vaccine uses a weakened version of a common cold-causing adenovirus engineered to code for the spike protein that the Covid-19 coronavirus uses to invade cells. “AstraZeneca is committed to the safety of trial participants and the highest standards of conduct in clinical trials,” Saturday’s statement read.

Source: Hindustan Times September 12, 2020 14:01 UTC