What Pfizer, BioNTech, and Moderna are doing to tackle the deadly delta variant

You’ve no doubt heard a lot about the strain of coronavirus called the delta variant. This variant, first identified in India, has spread across the world. And it is now the dominant strain in the United States

Granted, there are reasons to be concerned about the delta variant. It is highly transmissible. Eric Topol of the Scripps Research Institution called it a “super-spreader strain if there is one.” It is possible that the variant could also cause more severe cases of COVID-19.

However, there are also reasons to be cautiously optimistic. Here is what Pfizer (NYSE: PFE), BioNTech (NASDAQ: BNTX), and Modern (NASDAQ: mRNA) do to combat the lethal delta variant.

Pfizer / BioNTech

There was good news and bad news from real-world data released by Israel’s Ministry of Health earlier this month. First, the good news: The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine appears to be very effective in providing protection against severe cases of COVID-19, even with the rise of the delta variant. Now the bad news: the overall effectiveness of the vaccine has increased from 94% to 64%.

The best news of all, however, is that Pfizer and BioNTech have a clear strategy to increase protection against new strains of coronavirus, including the delta variant. The partners plan to file Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) applications in the United States and Europe within weeks for a third booster dose.

Pfizer and BioNTech have already seen encouraging results in a clinical study evaluating a third dose of their vaccine. These data showed that a booster dose given six months after the second dose increased neutralizing antibodies against the beta variant first identified in South Africa by five to ten times.

Other data has also been published which indicates that a third dose could increase the levels of neutralizing antibodies against the delta variant. Pfizer and BioNTech are conducting their own tests to confirm this result.

The drug makers believe that a third dose of their vaccine could provide high levels of protection against all current variants, including the delta variant. However, they are also moving forward with developing a version of their vaccine that specifically targets the delta variant. Pfizer and BioNTech plan to begin clinical testing of this new version in August pending regulatory approvals.

Modern

Moderna is already evaluating three different options to tackle the new variants. One option is a third dose of the company’s mRNA-1273 vaccine which has already won EUA. Another option is a third dose containing mRNA-1273.351, which specifically targets two variants of concern – the Brazilian P.1 variant and the South African beta variant. The third option is a booster dose that combines a 50-50 mixture of mRNA-1273 and mRNA-1273.351.

In May, Moderna announced promising first results from a Phase 2 clinical study that includes these three options. A third dose of mRNA-1273 and mRNA-1273,351 increased levels of neutralizing antibodies, with the booster dose of mRNA-1273,351 achieving higher neutralizing titers.

However, the company also reported a few weeks ago the results of laboratory studies which showed that its vaccine currently on the market produced neutralizing antibodies against all variants tested, including beta and delta variants. Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel said: “These new data are encouraging and strengthen our belief that the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine should remain protective against newly detected variants. “

Nonetheless, Moderna believes that booster shots will be needed. He also believes that the best alternative for these booster shots will be a variant-specific multivalent vaccine. Company president Stephen Hoge said on Moderna’s first quarter conference call: “As a company, we are committed to making as many updates to the vaccine, to adding as many variants as we need. believe necessary, to ensure that when people are boosted, it provides the broadest immune protection against the broadest range of variants. ”

Investment implications

The rise of new coronavirus variants is, without a doubt, bad news for the world. New strains are making it harder to end the pandemic. However, the hard, cold truth is that this bad news will likely translate into good news for Pfizer, BioNTech, and Moderna.

The need for booster doses is likely to increase the fortunes of these vaccine stocks over the next several years and possibly beyond. Any uncertainty about the ability of companies to generate solid recurring revenue from their COVID-19 vaccines could disappear with the emergence of the delta variant and other worrisome variants.

Other vaccine manufacturers may also be more successful because of the need for booster doses. The messenger RNA (mRNA) approach used by Pfizer, BioNTech and Moderna, however, appears to hold a key advantage over rival vaccine approaches with its ability to rapidly develop variant-specific vaccines.

I suspect that these three companies will continue to be the biggest winners in the COVID-19 vaccine market. But the real winner will be the world itself – by having access to both safe and effective vaccines against the disturbing new trains of coronaviruses.