J&J, AstraZeneca resuming trials of vaccines

Two trials involving coronavirus vaccine candidates are resuming. AstraZeneca has restarted the U.S. trial of its experimental COVID-19 vaccine, and Johnson & Johnson is set to resume its trial on Monday or Tuesday.

AstraZeneca said Friday the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has deemed it safe to continue testing the vaccine. The company had to pause its U.S. trial last month after a report of a serious neurological illness in a participant in its trial in the UK.It is developing its vaccine with researchers at Oxford University.

Johnson & Johnson said Friday that the independent safety panel, the Data and Safety Monitoring Board, has recommended that it resume trial recruitment after finding no evidence that the vaccine caused a volunteer to fall ill. The company says it’s on track to produce trial data of the vaccines’ effectiveness by the end of this year or early 2021.

Both companies have contracts to supply vaccines to the U.S. and other governments if they are cleared by regulators.