AstraZeneca says Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine results encouraging

FILE PHOTO: A test tube labeled with the vaccine is seen in front of AstraZeneca logo in this illustration taken, September 9, 2020. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic

(Reuters) - An AstraZeneca executive said he felt encouraged by "incredibly promising" COVID-19 vaccine trial data unveiled by Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech, while hoping the United States would "embrace innovation" under the next administration.

Speaking at a Financial Times online conference on healthcare on Monday, AstraZeneca senior executive team member, Ruud Dobber, said the first set of efficacy data from a large-scale study made him optimistic that AstraZeneca too would be able to follow up on positive results from early-stage trials.