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AstraZeneca PLC said late-stage trials for the Covid-19 vaccine it is developing with the University of Oxford are on track to produce results “later this year,” with a potential rollout soon after, subject to regulatory approval. Timing of the much-anticipated results depends on community infection rates around the world, with around 23,000 volunteers now enrolled in the clinical trials in the U.S., the U.K., Brazil and South Africa, the British drugmaker said Thursday as it reported third-quarter earnings. (Strasburg, 11/5)

A researcher who's part of Oxford University’s COVID-19 vaccine trials said on Wednesday there is a small possibility that the results of the vaccine could be ready in the U.K. by the end of the year. “The first step is to reach the point where we can do an analysis and figure out whether or not the vaccine works. ... I'm optimistic that we could reach that point before the end of this year," vaccinologist Andrew Pollard told U.K. lawmakers, according to CNN. (Choi, 11/4)

Pfizer had already made it quite clear that it doesn’t need the U.S. government to help distribute its COVID-19 vaccine, should it be authorized by the FDA. Now it’s putting an exclamation point on that declaration. The company will not use the government’s chosen distribution partner, McKesson, but rather its own system to deliver the COVID vaccine directly to healthcare providers, said Tanya Alcorn, Pfizer's vice president for biopharma global supply chain, during a recent webinar from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. A Pfizer spokesperson confirmed that plan in an email to FiercePharma. (Weintraub, 11/4)

Amid its various efforts to provide Covid-19 tests, Abbott Laboratories (ABT) claims to have encountered a new problem: a key employee in its diagnostics business unexpectedly resigned last month to take a job with a rival company and planned to take trade secrets with him, according to a lawsuit. (Silverman, 11/4)