(ZEROHEDGE) – Two months after AstraZeneca touted trial data which suggested its SARS-COV-2 vaccine candidate would be safe for hman consumption, AZ, one of the global leaders in the race for a COVID-19 vaccine, dropped a bombshell on the market earlier this week: its vaccine candidate had produced an "adverse reaction" in one trial subject, prompting the project – being run in partnership with Oxford University – to temporarily halt.
Now, as the world rushes to reevaluate its expectations for the timing of the first emergency approvals from the FDA, AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot said Thursday that the company should know before the end of the year whether its experimental vaccine actually can protect most of the population from COVID-19. That is, presuming the British drugmaker is allowed to resume trials, which were paused earlier this week, in short order.
It's still not clear whether the patient, who was reportedly suffering from symptoms associated with a rare spinal inflammatory disorder called "transverse myelitis", was ill prior to being admitted. Soriot says more tests are needed, and that an independent board will ultimately decide whether the trial can resume.
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