The organisation which has paused the trials of COVID-19 vaccine candidate in India.
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Answer:
The Serum Institute / The Serum Organisation
➢ The Serum Institute of India (SII) in Pune on Thursday paused the clinical trial of COVID-19 vaccine candidate being developed by Oxford University’s Jenner Institute and Astra Zeneca following a notice from the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) on Wednesday.
➢Also read: Coronavirus | Serum Institute pulled up for not pausing vaccine trial
Trials of the vaccine were stopped globally after one of the recipients in the U.K. showed adverse symptoms.
In a statement released on Thursday, the SII said, “We are reviewing the situation and pausing India trials till AstraZeneca restarts the trials. We are following DCGI’s instructions and will not be able to comment further on trials. You can connect with DCGI for more updates on this front’’.
➢While trials of the vaccine were stopped in four countries as a precautionary measure. the DCGI, in its notice to the SII, asked as to why it was progressing with the trials and why it had not sent a detailed report about the U.K. patient.
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The SII had maintained that they were going by the DCGI’s direction and so far were not told to pause the trials. “We are going by DCGI’s direction and so far were not told to pause the trials. If DCGI has any safety concerns, we will follow their instructions and abide by the standard protocols”, it had said.
British-Swedish pharma giant AstraZeneca had stated that the said volunteer suffered “an unexplained illness” and such pauses in drug trials are “routine”.