Coronavirus: Another Good Vaccine News: There’s Another Vaccine That Appears 94 Percent Effective

Last week, Pfizer announced that preliminary data would show 90 percent efficiency in Phase 3 tests, and now Moderna has reported equally good news. According to today’s announcement from the company, based on a preliminary analysis of the data

So far, the vaccine has been shown to be 94.5 percent effective.

More than 30,000 volunteers participated in the Moderna tests. Of those who received two doses of the vaccine, only five participants received the coronavirus and developed symptoms. In contrast, 90 of the placebo-vaccinated volunteers became ill, according to an independent data review committee from the US Institute of Health. The data shows that the vaccine also prevents severe covid disease in those who have received the vaccine. In the tests, none of the five infections developed a serious illness, while 11 of the 90 placebo-vaccinated patients had severe symptoms.

Both companies are developing a vaccine against the coronavirus using technology called mRNA or messenger RNA.

What is mRNA technology?

In traditional vaccine production, vaccines elicit an immune response with an attenuated and inactivated pathogen or viral protein. The mRNA-based vaccine is the latest technology.

RNA, or messenger RNA, is a long molecule made up of nucleotides that are linked together in a unique order to mediate the genetic instructions for the production of one or more viral proteins or antigens. In the case of SARS-CoV-2, this is the peak protein or part of it, called the receptor-binding protein. Once the mRNA from the vaccine enters the cells of the body, the cells follow instructions to produce proteins or antigens that can then appear on the cell surface, recognized by the immune system of the vaccinated person, creating an immune response to the antigen. of the vaccine, Pfizer told Portfolio. nak.

Both companies, Pfizer and Moderna, have stressed that they will seek approval from the US Pharmaceutical Products Regulatory Authority (FDA) in an emergency procedure if additional data shows the vaccine is safe. According to a statement from Moderna, this is planned for the next few weeks. They add that the regulatory authority waits at least two months of data to trace those vaccinated.

Meanwhile, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has started to approve Moderna’s mRNA vaccine against COVID-19 (mRNA-1273) under the so-called ‘continuous review’ procedure, according to a statement from Moderna. “The launch of the continuous review process is an important step in the authorization of the mRNA-1273 vaccine in cooperation with the European authorities” Said Stéphane Bancel, CEO of Moderna. “We will continue discussions with the EMA to develop a safe and effective vaccine. Meanwhile, in association with our strategic partner Lonza in Switzerland and ROVI in Spain, we are working to be able to produce even more vaccines, around 500 million doses per year, which we could increase to one billion by early 2021 ”.

Moderna has so far received $ 955 million to develop the vaccine, and the United States will purchase $ 1.53 billion worth of vaccines from the company under agreements made so far. Pfizer has not received state support for a vaccine developed by a biotech company called BioNtech, but the United States has already committed $ 2 billion in vaccines.

An effective vaccine is only the first step, after which production and distribution capabilities can be challenging, that can have a say in the fight for priority in vaccine development. The Pfizer vaccine, for example, requires -70 degree storage, which is a major logistical task. THE Modern however, according to today’s announcement, they developed the vaccine is stable at lower temperatures, between 2 and 8 degrees Celsius, for 30 days, much longer than expected, as 7 days were originally predicted.

Stock markets rose in response to other favorable vaccine news, with Moderna rising 14 percent to a plus in pre-open trading.