Evidence map›Paper›PMID 34937701›Full record

ArticleBMJ global health2021

Who funded the research behind the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine?

Samuel Cross, Yeanuk Rho, Henna Reddy, Toby Pepperrell, Florence Rodgers, Rhiannon Osborne, Ayolola Eni-Olotu, Rishi Banerjee, Sabrina Wimmer, Sarai Keestra

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in BMJ global health, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 22 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
22citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

22 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Special FDA designations for drug development: orphan, fast track, accelerated approval, priority review, and breakthrough therapy.The European journal of health economics : HEPAC : health economics in prevention and care · 2024
    Review
  3. Article
  4. Article
  5. Article
  6. COVID-19 vaccine apartheid and the failure of global cooperation.British journal of politics & international relations · 2023
    Article
  7. Article
  8. Article
  9. Article
  10. Article
  11. Review
  12. Article
  13. The Journal of law, medicine & ethics : a journal of the American Society of Law, Medicine & Ethics · 2023
    Review
  14. Article
  15. Article
  16. Article
  17. Article
  18. Article
  19. Article
  20. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

10 authors.

Samuel CrossFaculty of Medicine, Imperial College London, London, UK.
Yeanuk RhoNHS Highland, Inverness, UK.
Henna ReddyMedical Sciences Division, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
Toby PepperrellSchool of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.
Florence RodgersRoyal Cornwall Hospital, Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust, Truro, UK.
Rhiannon OsborneUniversity of Cambridge School of Clinical Medicine, Cambridge, UK.
Ayolola Eni-OlotuFaculty of Medicine, Imperial College London, London, UK.
Rishi BanerjeeManchester University NHS Foundation Trust, Manchester, UK.
Sabrina Wimmer *Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, Manchester, UK.
Sarai Keestra *Epidemiology and Data Science, Amsterdam UMC, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands s.m.keestra@amsterdamumc.nl.ORCID 0000-0002-6368-0977

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectivesThe 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.

methodsWe 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.

resultsWe 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.

conclusionOur 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.

Indexed as

ChAdOx1 nCoV-19COVID-19COVID-19 VaccinesHumansSARS-CoV-2ChAdOx1 nCoV-19COVID-19 VaccinesCOVID-19health policyvaccines

Identifiers

PMID34937701
PMCPMC8704023

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.