According to a report released Tuesday, an initial safety test of a possible coronavirus vaccine produced antibodies to the deadly disease in all who were tested.
The neutralizing antibodies produced by the Moderna Inc. vaccine were equivalent to the top half of what is seen in patients who become infected and recover, Bloomberg News said.
Meanwhile, the vaccine’s side effects were not severe enough to halt the testing process, Bloomberg said, citing the results reported by government researchers in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Boosting antibody production is considered a key milestone in initial tests, but it does not prove that a vaccine is effective, Bloomberg said.
The test results were based on data that involved the first 45 people enrolled in the study, all of whom were between the ages of 18 and 55.
The results of a second part of the trial involving older people were not yet available.
A larger, final-stage trial will begin on July 27, and will compare the vaccine’s results with those of the placebo vaccines given to 30,000 healthy people at high risk for COVID-19.
William Haseltine, a former Harvard Medical School researcher who chairs Access Health International, told Bloomberg that the levels of neutralizing antibodies produced by the vaccine were “respectable” and could provide protection against the coronavirus.
But “the jury is out” of vaccine safety, Haseltine added.
More than half of the test subjects who received half of the three doses suffered mild to moderate fatigue, chills, headache and muscle pain, while 40% experienced fever after the second vaccination, Bloomberg said.
Three of the 14 patients who received the highest dose of the vaccine experienced serious side effects, but that dose is not being used in larger trials, Bloomberg said.
Dr. Tony Moody, a researcher at the Duke Human Vaccine Institute, called it “many adverse effects,” but told Bloomberg that the antibody levels produced by the vaccine were “really encouraging.”
Moderna’s vaccine is among the most advanced in development, and the company’s shares rose 16.4% in after-hours operations on Tuesday, Bloomberg said.
The company’s share price has more than tripled this year due to investor hopes for its coronavirus vaccine.
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