London, September 10: United Kingdom-based Pharmaceutical AstraZeneca on Thursday said COVID-19 vaccine which the company is developing with the University of Oxford could be ready by this year-end in spite of holding the trials. During an online conference, AstraZeneca Chief Executive Officer Pascal Soriot assured investors that the vaccine is possible by the end of 2020. COVID-19 Vaccine Update: Clinical Trials of Oxford's Covishield Will Continue in India, Says Serum Institute of India After AstraZeneca Puts Trials on Hold in UK.

Notably,   AstraZeneca on Tuesday informed that it had "voluntarily paused" clinical trials of its coronavirus vaccine. The trials were paused after a volunteer developed an unexplained illness. AstraZeneca, which is developing the vaccine alongside Oxford University, called it a ''routine pause'' in the case of ''an unexplained illness''.  COVID-19 Vaccine Update: DCGI Sends Show Cause Notice to Serum Institute of India for Not Pausing Trial of Covishield.

The company informed that the pause was part of a routine exercise which has to happen whenever there is a potentially unexplained illness in one of the trials, while it is investigated. The vaccine being developed by AstraZeneca in partnership with the Oxford University's Jenner Institute and the Oxford Vaccine Group is in phase 3 trials. More than 50,000 people worldwide have been taking part in the clinical studies to see whether the candidate vaccine, known as AZD1222.

In India, Serum Institute of India was also conducting phase 2 and 3 trials of the vaccine. In India, this vaccine is named as "Covishield". Meanwhile, the Pune-based institute also paused COVID-19 vaccine trials in India till further instructions from the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI).

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 10, 2020 05:32 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).