UK's medical watchdog speeds up review process in search for Covid vaccine

AstraZeneca and Pfizer among the front runners in race to immunise people against coronavirus

The UK has accelerated trials of AstraZeneca’s vaccine. Reuters

The UK’s health regulator has accelerated the review process for Covid vaccines.

On Sunday, the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency said the review of a potential vaccine by AstraZeneca was now under way, days after a similar analysis of an inoculation from Pfizer began.

“We can confirm the MHRA’s rolling review of our potential Covid-19 vaccine,” an AstraZeneca spokesman said on Sunday.

The rolling review allows regulators to analyse clinical data in real time and open dialogue with pharmaceutical companies on manufacturing and trials to accelerate the approval process.

The approach is designed to speed up evaluations of promising drugs or vaccines during a public health emergency.

AstraZeneca – whose Covid-19 vaccine is being developed in tandem with the University of Oxford – and Pfizer are among the front runners in the race to develop an inoculation for coronavirus, along with Johnson & Johnson and Moderna.

Data from the trials are expected in the coming weeks.

Last week, UK-based AstraZeneca revealed its experimental vaccine produces a similar immune response in old and young adults. The vaccine also triggers lower adverse responses among the elderly, it said.

Work on the Oxford vaccine started in January using a weakened version of a common cold virus that causes infections in chimpanzees.