Addressing concerns that the development of coronavirus vaccines for COVID-19 could be accelerated due to policy, warned Dr. Anthony Fauci that her development would not be hasty.
In an interview with Reuters published on Monday, Fauci – the director of the National Institute of Government Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) – said that “[t]he one thing you do not want to see with a vaccine is to get an EUA (emergency use authorization) before you have a signal of effectiveness. “
His remarks came a day after the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted an EUA for the use of restorative plasma to treat COVID-19. That authorization is controversial because the data are not supported by robust clinical trials.
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There is also growing concern that the current presidential administration will put pressure on the FDA to nominate a vaccine candidate for the Nov.’s election.
Among other risks, the approval of a vaccine before it has been fully and thoroughly researched can severely affect the prospects for candidates who are still in development. “One of the potential dangers if you release a vaccine too early is that it would be difficult, if not impossible, for people to enroll in their trial for the other vaccines,” Fauci said.
Several prospective vaccine candidates are now in clinical trials in the late stage. However, it is unlikely that the trial for any of them will be completed before the election. Modern (NASDAQ: MRNA) is arguably the most prominent of these; its mRNA-1273 has shown high efficacy in earlier phases of testing. The Moderna candidate is the leader among messenger RNA-based solutions for a coronavirus vaccine.
The share performance of companies currently testing such vaccine candidates was mixed on Tuesday. Moderna was below profit, growing at 2.1% on the day around the 0.4% increase S&P 500 index.
