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The American Pharmacist Modern announced this Monday that its vaccine against Covid-19 has an efficacy of 94.5 percent, a figure higher than that announced a week ago by Pfizer.
The company is conducting a trial of 30,000 people and its first analysis detected 95 symptomatic infections, 90 of them in those who received the placebo.
Moderna’s technical director, the Spanish Juan Andrés, highlighted The country that “the most important thing is that only 11 of the 95 people who fell ill did so with a serious form, with hospitalization and breathing problems. Y all 11 were on the placebo. This yes that we did not expect it even in our dreams “.
This vaccine requires two doses and the company hopes to request an authorization in the United States for its emergency use in the coming weeks.
Moderna expects to manufacture 20 million doses before the end of the year to distribute in the North American country.
Results come immediately after similar results from Pfizer and increase confidence that vaccines can help end the pandemic. The two companies have used a novel approach to design their vaccines.
Moderna has developed a “RNA vaccine”, which means that part of the genetic code of the coronavirus is injected into the body, which allows the production of sufficient protein to train the immune system.
As the Moderna statement explains, the study’s primary endpoint is based on the analysis of confirmed and adjudicated Covid-19 cases starting two weeks after the second dose of vaccine.
“This first interim analysis was based on 95 cases, of which 90 cases of Covid-19 were observed in the group of people who were administered a placebo, compared to five cases observed in the group that received the vaccine,” he says the notice.
As a second endpoint, it was included that the 11 severe cases all developed in the group that received the placebo and not the vaccine.
The 95 Covid-19 cases included 15 older adults (over 65) and 20 participants who identified as belonging to diverse communities (including 12 Hispanics or Latinos, 4 Blacks or African Americans, 3 Asian Americans and 1 multiracial), says the company.
Moderna states that when reviewing the contraindications it was concluded that “overall, the vaccine was well tolerated” and that most of the “adverse events were of mild or moderate severity”, in addition to being of short duration.
“Serious events with a frequency greater than or equal to 2 percent after the first dose included pain at the injection site (2.7 percent), and after the second dose included fatigue (9.7 percent) , myalgia (8.9 percent), headache and redness at the injection site.
In the company statement, Chief Executive Officer Stéphane Bancil said that “this is a crucial moment in the development of our Covid-19 vaccine candidate. Since the beginning of January, we have been pursuing this virus with the intention of protecting as many people as possible around the world. All along we’ve known that every day is important“.
“This positive interim analysis from our phase 3 study has given us the first clinical validation that our vaccine can prevent Covid-19 disease, including severe disease“Stéphane Bancel said in a statement.
