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In this file photo taken on August 13, Moderna’s protocol files for COVID-19 vaccines are kept at the Research Centers of America in Hollywood, Florida.
AFP / Getty Images
Moderna Inc.’s potential coronavirus vaccine will not be ready for the U.S. presidential election, the biotech company’s chief executive officer told the Financial Times on Wednesday.
CEO Stéphane Bancel told the FT in an interview that Moderna MRNA,
– a leader in the COVID-19 vaccine race – will not seek emergency use authorization from the US Food and Drug Administration until November 25 at the earliest, and does not expect to have approval for the distribution of the vaccine to the general public. public until spring 2021.
“I think a delay [first quarter], early [second quarter] approval is a reasonable time frame, based on what we know about our vaccine, ”Bancel told the FT.
President Donald Trump has pushed for an Election Day vaccine, which worries some experts who fear a rushed and inadequate testing process.
FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn has promised that the approval process will be based on science, not politics. “The FDA will not allow any pressure from anyone to change that,” Hahn said recently. “I will put the interest of the American people above anything else.”
Despite Trump’s claims that a vaccine could be ready in weeks, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Robert Redfield, told Congress earlier this month that widespread vaccines are not expected until well. entered next year.
Modern, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, has one of seven coronavius vaccine candidates being tested in the US, and one of four that has advanced to late-stage trials.
In August, Moderna said that the US government had agreed to purchase 100 million doses of its vaccine candidate, with the option to purchase 400 million more doses, for a total of $ 2.48 billion.
Moderna’s shares are up more than 261% so far this year, compared to the SPX of the S&P 500,
4% profit this year.
