FDA pauses advanced coronavirus vaccine trial, but not due to safety concerns

[Chris Smith]

• The Food and Drug Administration has paused a vaccine trial that reached Phase 2/3 of human testing, Inovio’s INO-4800 experimental drug.
• This is the second vaccine research to be paused after the AstraZeneca/Oxford trial was halted a few weeks ago.
• The FDA paused the AstraZeneca trial because of safety concerns following an incident in the UK.
• The halt on Inovio’s candidate is different. The agency wants to know more about a delivery device before the research can proceed.

What seemed like fantastic news in the first months of the novel coronavirus pandemic, that a vaccine would be finalized within 18 months, might backfire spectacularly. It can take several years to develop an effective and safe vaccine that can prevent the transmission of a highly infectious illness, but many teams that began work on COVID-19 vaccines said it could be done much faster. Various technological advancements allowed vaccine makers to start development much more quickly and reach clinical trials earlier than they would have in the past.

At least a dozen vaccine candidates have reached the final stage of testing, and some of them might be approved for emergency use in the coming weeks. But recent developments in the world of vaccines may have eroded public trust in the first wave of COVID-19 vaccines. Russia’s decision to use a drug before the research deemed it safe, revelations that China has inoculated thousands of people, or Trump’s perceived hurry to have a vaccine approved by November 3rd might give some people pause. AstraZeneca’s recent safety incident is also concerning, as is FDA’s decision to place a hold on a different experimental drug in advanced testing stages.

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FDA pauses advanced coronavirus vaccine trial, but not due to safety concerns originally appeared on BGR.com on Tue, 29 Sep 2020 at 21:12:30 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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