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Moderna announced on Wednesday that the COVID-19 vaccine he recently developed to treat a novel coronavirus variant of concern first identified in South Africa is ready to be tested in humans in clinical trials.
Moderna in a press release said it had shipped the first batch of doses of the new vaccine to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to begin a Phase 1 clinical trial “which will be led and funded by the National Institute of Allergy from NIH and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). “
The new vaccine candidate, called mRNA-1273.351, was created to better treat the South African variant after the company’s existing vaccine – the second COVID-19 vaccine to receive emergency approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the United States late last year – has been shown to have reduced efficacy against the mutation.
In a study published last week, the biotech giant said its existing COVID-19 injection had a six-fold reduction in vaccine-induced antibodies to the B.1.351 variant. (Despite this reduction, however, “neutralizing titer levels with B.1.351 remain above levels that should be protective,” the company said.)
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Moderna said on Wednesday that he plans to study three variations of a booster. First, it will study the variant-specific vaccine, which will be given at a lower dose than its original vaccine, and, also like its original vaccine, will require evaluation and emergency use approval of the. FDA before it can be released to the public, if the trial results are promising.
Second, Moderna said it plans to study a combination of the original vaccine and the variant-specific vaccine in one shot at 50 micrograms or less. Finally, he will study the effects of a third dose of his original vaccine, but at a lower dosage.
“Moderna is committed to making as many updates to our vaccine as necessary until the pandemic is under control,” Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel said in a statement. “We hope to demonstrate that booster doses, if needed, can be given at lower dose levels, which will allow us to deliver many more doses to the global community at the end of 2021 and 2022 if needed.”
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News of the booster comes just a month after Moderna said he was working on one. Like its first COVID-19 vaccine, the new vaccine candidate was also created using breakthrough mRNA technology.
In addition to Moderna, other vaccine makers – including Pfizer, the creator of the first COVID-19 vaccine to gain emergency approval in the United States, as well as Johnson & Johnson – have said they are working on vaccines to better fight against the variants.
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