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Who funded the research behind the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine?
Cross, Samuel; Rho, Yeanuk; Reddy, Henna; Pepperrell, Toby; Rodgers, Florence; Osborne, Rhiannon; Eni-Olotu, Ayolola; Banerjee, Rishi; Wimmer, Sabrina; Keestra, Sarai.
  • Cross S; Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College London, London, UK.
  • Rho Y; NHS Highland, Inverness, UK.
  • Reddy H; Medical Sciences Division, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
  • Pepperrell T; School of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.
  • Rodgers F; Royal Cornwall Hospital, Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust, Truro, UK.
  • Osborne R; University of Cambridge School of Clinical Medicine, Cambridge, UK.
  • Eni-Olotu A; Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College London, London, UK.
  • Banerjee R; Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, Manchester, UK.
  • Wimmer S; Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, Manchester, UK.
  • Keestra S; Department of Management, London School of Economics and Political Science, London, UK.
BMJ Glob Health ; 6(12)2021 12.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1583126
ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVES:

The Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine (ChAdOx1 nCoV-19, Vaxzevira or Covishield) builds on two decades of research and development (R&D) into chimpanzee adenovirus-vectored vaccine (ChAdOx) technology at the University of Oxford. This study aimed to approximate the funding for the R&D of ChAdOx and the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine and to assess the transparency of funding reporting mechanisms.

METHODS:

We conducted a scoping review and publication history analysis of the principal investigators to reconstruct R&D funding the ChAdOx technology. We matched award numbers with publicly accessible grant databases. We filed freedom of information (FOI) requests to the University of Oxford for the disclosure of all grants for ChAdOx R&D.

RESULTS:

We identified 100 peer-reviewed articles relevant to ChAdOx technology published between January 2002 and October 2020, extracting 577 mentions of funding bodies from acknowledgements. Government funders from overseas (including the European Union) were mentioned 158 times (27.4%), the UK government 147 (25.5%) and charitable funders 138 (23.9%). Grant award numbers were identified for 215 (37.3%) mentions; amounts were publicly available for 121 (21.0%). Based on the FOIs, until December 2019, the biggest funders of ChAdOx R&D were the European Commission (34.0%), Wellcome Trust (20.4%) and Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (17.5%). Since January 2020, the UK government contributed 95.5% of funding identified. The total identified R&D funding was £104 226 076 reported in the FOIs and £228 466 771 reconstructed from the literature search.

CONCLUSION:

Our study approximates that public and charitable financing accounted for 97%-99% of identifiable funding for the ChAdOx vaccine technology research at the University of Oxford underlying the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine until autumn 2020. We encountered a lack of transparency in research funding reporting.
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Full text: Available Collection: International databases Database: MEDLINE Main subject: COVID-19 / ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 Type of study: Prognostic study / Reviews Topics: Vaccines Limits: Humans Language: English Year: 2021 Document Type: Article Affiliation country: Bmjgh-2021-007321

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Full text: Available Collection: International databases Database: MEDLINE Main subject: COVID-19 / ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 Type of study: Prognostic study / Reviews Topics: Vaccines Limits: Humans Language: English Year: 2021 Document Type: Article Affiliation country: Bmjgh-2021-007321