Oxford, UK: November 23, 2020: Oxford Science Enterprises (OSE), the independent investment company created to found, fund and build transformational businesses via its unique partnership with the University of Oxford.
The University of Oxford, in collaboration with AstraZeneca plc, has announced interim trial data from its Phase III trials that shows its candidate vaccine, ChAdOx1 nCoV-2019, is effective at preventing COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) and offers a high level of protection.
- Phase 3 interim analysis including 131 COVID-19 cases indicates that the vaccine is 70.4% effective when combining data from two dosing regimes
- In the two different dose regimes vaccine efficacy was 90% in one and 62% in the other
- Higher efficacy regime used a halved first dose and standard second dose
- Early indication that vaccine could reduce virus transmission from an observed reduction in asymptomatic infections
- Crucially, vaccine can be easily administered in existing healthcare systems, stored at ‘fridge temperature’ (2-8 °C) and distributed using existing logistics
- Large scale manufacturing ongoing in over 10 countries to support equitable global access
Congratulations to AstraZeneca, Oxford University and all the academics behind Oxford’s COVID-19 vaccine team, led by Vaccitech founders Prof Sarah Gilbert and Prof Adrian Hill.
This safe and effective vaccine against COVID-19 is based on decades of in-depth research and will be transformational in the next 6 months; easily distributed and administered, and available on a not-for-profit basis during the pandemic it offers real global potential to save lives.
We are delighted by this news and immensely proud that our portfolio company, Vaccitech, was responsible for co-inventing the vaccine alongside Oxford University’s Jenner Institute – one of the most prestigious vaccine research centres in the world.
The positive data announced today, from this large high-quality Phase III study, provides strong scientific validation for Vaccitech’s ChAdOx technology platform, licensed from Oxford University, which underpins a broad pipeline of product candidates designed to treat and prevent infectious diseases and cancer.
At Oxford Science Enterprises we focus on ensuring world-leading Oxford science moves out of the laboratory and onto the global stage where it can solve the world’s toughest problems. As such, it is no accident that not one, but two, of the 50 vaccine candidates currently undertaking human trials originated from Oxford research and companies within our portfolio.
Oxford Science Enterprises has been investing in Vaccitech since 2016 to help fund the development of the ChAdOx technology platform and subsequent research into novel immunotherapies and vaccines against a number of infectious diseases and cancer, including: hepatitis B (HBV), human papillomavirus (HPV), prostate cancer and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), another coronavirus.
Oxford academics had already focussed on pandemic preparedness, using the ChAdOx technology, when COVID-19 emerged in early 2020. The technology and research were instrumental in enabling the Oxford team to move at pace to find an effective COVID-19 vaccine; the Oxford candidate utilises the same vaccine platform and antigen selection strategy as the ChAdOx1-MERS vaccine, based on preclinical and clinical findings which are now published.
Congratulations to AstraZeneca, Oxford University, Vaccitech and the brilliant academics whose research led to development of the platform technology and ultimately this potential COVID-19 vaccine.
Alexis Dormandy, Chief Executive Officer, Oxford Science Enterprises, said:
“Positive phase III data is a significant accomplishment that will bring us one step closer to ending the worst pandemic in a century, pausing the world’s economy and infecting over 50 million people globally. Congratulations to AstraZeneca, Oxford University, Vaccitech and the brilliant academics whose research led to development of the platform technology and ultimately this potential COVID-19 vaccine. At Oxford Science Enterprises we are proud to have invested early in Vaccitech and played a part in this story.”
The world needs a cost effective, easy to distribute, COVID-19 vaccine that demonstrates safety and works to control the continued spread of this devastating pandemic
Bill Enright, Chief Executive Officer, Vaccitech, said:
“The world needs a cost effective, easy to distribute, COVID-19 vaccine that demonstrates safety and works to control the continued spread of this devastating pandemic. Vaccitech is proud to have been a small part of the team, together with Oxford University and AstraZeneca, that moved this vaccine from concept to reality in record time. These latest data give us further confidence in the potential of our ChAdOx technology platform to address other major unmet needs in infectious diseases and cancer.”
In the interest of accelerating global vaccine development, Vaccitech assigned its rights to the vaccine candidate to Oxford University Innovation, to facilitate the licence of those rights to AstraZeneca for the development and manufacture of the vaccine. None of the parties will profit from vaccine sales during the pandemic.
Vaccitech is backed by leading investment institutions, including GV (formerly Google Ventures), Sequoia Capital China, Liontrust (formerly Neptune), Korea Investment Partners and Oxford Science Enterprises.
Read the full press release from Oxford University here
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Notes to Editors
About Oxford Science Enterprises
Oxford Science Enterprises (OSE) is an independent, billion-pound investment company, created in 2015 to found, fund and build transformational businesses via our unique partnership with the University of Oxford, the world’s #1 research university.
This partnership enables us to work with the brightest academic minds tackling the world’s toughest challenges and guarantees us unrivalled access to their scientific research. In collaboration with our global network of entrepreneurs and advisors, we go well beyond funding to we shape and nurture these complex ideas into successful businesses.
Actively focused on a core portfolio of around 40 companies spanning three high-growth, high-impact sectors – Life Sciences, Health Tech, Deep Tech – we adopt a flexible, long-term investment approach, recognising the path from ground-breaking research to global markets takes time and resilience.
To date, we have invested £0.5 billion in over 80 ambitious companies built on Oxford science, helping progress 28 from seed to Series A, and 22 to Series B and beyond, including 2 IPOs and 7 trade sales. A key player in Oxford’s entrepreneurial ecosystem, we are highly motivated to foster an environment that catalyses pioneering research and steers it to commercial success. We are committed to doing this in an inclusive and sustainable way.