NEW DELHI: The race to develop a Covid-19 vaccine picked up pace on Monday with US biotech firm Moderna announcing its candidate was 94.5% effective in interim analysis of its phase 3 trials, which involved more than 30,000 volunteers.
Two aspects stood out. One, the shot was also found to save severe cases; and two, the vaccine can be stored at -200C in a normal refrigerator for six months as against competitor Pfizer’s -700C to -800C, which is not easy to manage.
Pfizer had recently claimed its vaccine candidate was over 90% effective in early results. Soon after, the Russian government said its Sputnik V, which has also entered into a distribution and phase 3 trial partnership with an Indian company, was 92% effective as per early results.
Moderna now plans to seek emergency use authorization with the US Food and Drug Administration and regulators in other countries. By this year-end, the company plans to have 20 million doses of the vaccine ready for the US. It will manufacture 500 million to 1 billion doses for global use next year.
Called the COVE study, the first interim analysis was based on 95 cases, of which 90 were observed in the placebo group and five in the vaccinated group who were given two doses, 28 days apart. Like Pfizer, Moderna’s candidate uses a technology called messenger RNA that has never been used before to build an approved vaccine.
In all, there were 11 severe cases in the first interim analysis, all of which were in the placebo group, which means they were given dummy shots, not the real thing. Meanwhile, Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech announced commencement of phase 3 trials of its Covaxin.