Modern Pharmaceutical (MRNA) – Get report, one of the leading candidates to produce a viable coronavirus vaccine, fell on Monday after Oxford University and AstraZeneca (AZN) – Get report published promising data from an early-stage trial of a key coronavirus vaccine study, and the population received a downgrade from JP Morgan.
In a study published Monday, the Oxford and AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine trial showed “potent” cellular and humoral immunogenicity in the 1,077 participants in a phase 1 / phase II study.
That, combined with an unrelated downgrade by JP Morgan analyst Cory Kasimov to neutral from the overweight, pushed Moderna’s shares lower. The stock fell 10.12% to $ 85.25 in trading on Monday.
Moderna’s stock has increased in recent months as several studies of its coronavirus vaccine candidate, mRNA-1273, have shown promising results in several clinical trials.
Moderna’s vaccine has been shown to produce antibodies against the coronavirus in trials, federal researchers said last week, something Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has called “really quite promising.”
At the same time, Moderna is one of hundreds of companies looking for an effective vaccine, without firm evidence that it has the recipe for success. According to the World Health Organization, more than 20 vaccine applicants are undergoing human testing, and another 130 are in the earlier stages of development.
Modern, which is applying technology similar to Pfizer (PFE) – Get report and BioNTech (BNTX) – Get report To develop a vaccine, he received accelerated approval from the Food and Drug Administration in May for his Covid-19 vaccine candidate.
For its part, Moderna will begin a Phase 3 test on July 27 that is expected to include some 30,000 participants. Participants will help compare their vaccine with the placebo injections of the vaccine and determine if it continues to show an accumulation of antibodies necessary to defend against the coronavirus.
Moderna has focused on testing a vaccine that will not only prevent infection with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, but will also prevent severe cases of the disease that require hospitalization.
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