The US company Moderna reports that the corona vaccine it has developed has an effectiveness of 94.5 percent in the crucial phase III study. This makes this vaccine even more effective than that of the pharmaceutical giant Biontech, which last week was the first to present promising study results.
Just last week, the pharmaceutical giant Biontech announced that its corona vaccine is expected to complete the crucial phase III study with an effectiveness of over 90 percent. After it looked for a while as if we would have to wait a long time for a vaccination in the fight against the coronavirus, there is now even a second positive message from the pharmaceutical industry: The US company Moderna has also developed a vaccine that is even more effective could be than that of Biontech. According to the phase III study, the effectiveness of the new vaccine is 94.5 percent.
Vaccine stimulates antibody production
The preparation with the name mRNA-1273 is one of the so-called RNA vaccines. The agent contains genetic information about the pathogen. The vaccination aims to stimulate the body to produce antibodies. As with the first vaccine from Biontech, vaccinations are given in two doses with a little time lag.
A total of 30,000 subjects were tested in the phase III study of the Modena vaccine. Half received the vaccine, the other half were given a placebo as a control group. Of all participants, a total of 95 people have contracted Covid-19 so far. Only five of the affected subjects had previously been vaccinated, the other 90 came from the control group. This resulted in the effectiveness of 94.5 percent.
Infection with no symptoms is still a mystery
What both vaccines also have in common: In the previous studies, the main focus is on the extent to which they can actually prevent diseases with symptoms. So so far, there is no data to prove whether the vaccines can prevent infections without symptoms.
Moderna vaccine in Europe too?
In principle, both vaccines are eligible for distribution on the European market. The EU Commission is currently negotiating according to its own information with Moderna about a possible delivery of up to 160 million vaccine doses. A contract has not yet been concluded. The US group is aiming for a so-called emergency approval with the US drug agency FDA, which should make it possible to accelerate the lengthy approval process. The European Medicines Agency EMA is also preparing for a rapid approval process called the rolling review process. In the event of rapid approval, Moderna says it should be ready to deliver around 20 million doses of the vaccine in the United States by the end of the year. Up to a billion cans could then be manufactured in the next year.