Moderna Inc said on Monday its experimental vaccine was 94.5% effective in preventing COVID-19 based on interim data from a late-stage clinical trial, becoming the second U.S. company in a week to report results that far exceed expectations.
Together with Pfizer Inc’s vaccine, also shown to be more than 90% effective, and pending more safety data and regulatory review, the United States could have two vaccines authorized for emergency use in December with as many as 60 million doses of vaccine available by the year’s end.
The UK has not placed an order for the vaccine – which works in a similar way to Pfizer’s – and it is unclear whether the British Government can get any stock.
But scientists said the news bodes well for other Covid-19 vaccines, with the one for Oxford University and UK pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca due to report in the coming days or weeks.
Moderna intends to submit an application for an Emergency Use Authorisation with the US Food and Drug Administration shortly and will submit further data on the vaccine’s effectiveness and safety.
The firm’s final-stage clinical trial is ongoing and includes more than 30,000 people in the US.
The interim analysis included 95 participants with confirmed cases of Covid-19, of which 90 had received the placebo and five the active vaccine.
The 95 cases included 15 older adults – aged 65 and over. This included 20 people who were not white – including 12 of whom were from Hispanic or Latino/a backgrounds, four African Americans, three Asian Americans and one who was multiracial.
Severe cases of coronavirus were also examined, including 11 severe cases in the first interim analysis.
All 11 cases occurred in the placebo group and none in the group which had received the vaccine, known currently as mRNA-1273.
Moderna said its available safety data does not indicate any significant safety concerns.
The vaccine was generally safe and well tolerated, and the majority of adverse events were mild or moderate in severity, it said.
Severe events after the first dose included injection site pain and after the second dose included fatigue, myalgia (muscle pain), arthralgia (joint pain), headache, pain, and redness at the injection site.
