The University of Oxford has reported positive findings from preclinical animal studies of its potential COVID-19 vaccine ChAdOx1, which involved nine rhesus macaques. The vaccine is currently undergoing human trials as they were performed concurrently with animal testing in order to fast track vaccine development.

Johanna Swanson, Product Manager at GlobalData, comments: “The University of Oxford’s recent animal studies for ChAdOx1 showed no signs of worsening disease symptoms. While this may sound like a simple requirement, this is actually an important hurdle for a vaccine to cross. Some previous attempts at coronavirus vaccines for Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in animal models resulted in candidate vaccines that produced side effects such as berserk immune responses, causing lung damage in monkeys and liver damage in ferrets.

“Results from human clinical trials are expected next month for the Oxford University vaccine. GlobalData considers the Oxford University/AstraZeneca’s ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 to a possible front-runner for the Trump administration’s ‘Operation Warp Speed’ – a program aimed at speeding up development of a successful COVID-19 vaccine. Other candidates for the program could include Moderna’s mRNA-1273, Inovio’s INO-4800, Sanofi/GSK’s unnamed vaccine, and Pfizer/BioNTech’s BNT162.”