Modern Inc.
MRNA -0.86%
He said Wednesday that the study’s first volunteers have received modified Covid-19 vaccines designed to better target a more contagious variant of the coronavirus, marking a milestone in the race to stay ahead of the changing pathogen.
The Cambridge, Massachusetts company, which has one of the most widely used Covid-19 vaccines, plans to enroll 60 people to test the new shot.
Subjects had previously received the two standard doses of Moderna’s original trait as part of a mid-stage study that began last year. In the new part of the study, these adult volunteers will receive a booster vaccine that contains Moderna’s modified vaccine, called mRNA-1273535.
Modern designed the modified feature to better target a highly transmissible strain of the virus that was first identified in South Africa and has spread to other places.
Some subjects will receive the variant vaccine only in the middle phase, or the phase 2 study, while others will get a single shot, called mRNA-1273,211, which contains both the variant and the original vaccine.
Moderna’s original Covid-19 vaccine, authorized for use in the United States in December, was highly effective in a large clinical study, but has shown signs, in laboratory tests, of a reduction in potency against the variant identified in South Africa.
Moderna said in January that her original vaccine still appears to offer some protection against this strain, but as a precaution, she embarked on a new vaccine that could be given as a booster shot or in various combinations with the original vaccine. .
Modern and other companies are preparing for the need for modified vaccines that can overcome emerging variants of the virus. In addition to the strain identified in South Africa, other strains have been identified in the UK and Brazil that spread more easily than the previous version of the virus.
Companies and researchers are concerned that the virus will continue to mutate to the point of escaping the immunity conferred by the original vaccines.
If testing for the Moderna vaccine variant is positive, a U.S. regulatory clearance could be obtained in the third quarter, the company said.
Modern is also checking whether administering to people a third dose of the original vaccine provides protection against variants.
More evidence of the Moderna vaccine variant is on the horizon. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases plans to begin an initial study of the modified vaccine, in phase 1, in collaboration with researchers from Seattle, Atlanta, Cincinnati and Nashville. The study would begin as early as this week, according to a federal study database published last week.
Modern manufactured and delivered doses of the vaccine variant for use in the NIAID trial in February.
Write to Peter Loftus to [email protected]
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