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New York — Moderna said on Wednesday that clinical trial data showed its updated Covid-19 vaccine will probably be effective against the highly mutated BA.2.86 subvariant of the coronavirus that has raised fear of a resurgence of infections.
The company said its shot generated an 8.7-fold increase in neutralising antibodies in humans against BA.2.86, which is being tracked by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
“We think this is news people will want to hear as they prepare to go out and get their fall boosters,” Moderna head of infectious diseases Jacqueline Miller said in an interview. The figures should also help reassure regulators, she said.
The CDC has previously indicated that BA.2.86 may be more capable of causing infection in people who previously had Covid or were vaccinated with previous shots. The Omicron offshoot carries more than 35 mutations in key portions of the virus compared with XBB.1.5, the dominant variant through most of 2023 and the target of the updated shots.
Moderna said it shared the new finding on its vaccine with regulators and submitted it for peer review publication. The retooled shot has yet to be approved by the US Food and Drug Administration, but is expected to be available later in September or in early October.
The Massachusetts-based drugmaker and rival Covid-19 vaccine manufacturers Novavax and Pfizer with German partner BioNTech have created versions of their shots aimed at the XBB.1.5 subvariant.
Moderna and Pfizer said in August that their new vaccines appeared to be effective in initial testing against a new subvariant of concern dubbed EG.5.
European regulators have since backed the Pfizer/BioNTech shot, with Britain’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency approving the vaccine on Tuesday, but have yet to make any announcements on Moderna’s updated vaccine.
BA.2.86 has been detected in Switzerland, SA, Israel, Denmark, the US and Britain, according to a WHO official.
While it is important to monitor the variant, several experts said it is unlikely to cause a wave of severe disease and death because of immune defences built up worldwide from mass vaccination and prior infection.
Support our award-winning journalism. The Premium package (digital only) is R30 for the first month and thereafter you pay R129 p/m now ad-free for all subscribers.
Moderna upbeat about new Covid vaccine
New York — Moderna said on Wednesday that clinical trial data showed its updated Covid-19 vaccine will probably be effective against the highly mutated BA.2.86 subvariant of the coronavirus that has raised fear of a resurgence of infections.
The company said its shot generated an 8.7-fold increase in neutralising antibodies in humans against BA.2.86, which is being tracked by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
“We think this is news people will want to hear as they prepare to go out and get their fall boosters,” Moderna head of infectious diseases Jacqueline Miller said in an interview. The figures should also help reassure regulators, she said.
The CDC has previously indicated that BA.2.86 may be more capable of causing infection in people who previously had Covid or were vaccinated with previous shots. The Omicron offshoot carries more than 35 mutations in key portions of the virus compared with XBB.1.5, the dominant variant through most of 2023 and the target of the updated shots.
Moderna said it shared the new finding on its vaccine with regulators and submitted it for peer review publication. The retooled shot has yet to be approved by the US Food and Drug Administration, but is expected to be available later in September or in early October.
The Massachusetts-based drugmaker and rival Covid-19 vaccine manufacturers Novavax and Pfizer with German partner BioNTech have created versions of their shots aimed at the XBB.1.5 subvariant.
Moderna and Pfizer said in August that their new vaccines appeared to be effective in initial testing against a new subvariant of concern dubbed EG.5.
European regulators have since backed the Pfizer/BioNTech shot, with Britain’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency approving the vaccine on Tuesday, but have yet to make any announcements on Moderna’s updated vaccine.
BA.2.86 has been detected in Switzerland, SA, Israel, Denmark, the US and Britain, according to a WHO official.
While it is important to monitor the variant, several experts said it is unlikely to cause a wave of severe disease and death because of immune defences built up worldwide from mass vaccination and prior infection.
Reuters
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