Moderna Inc., late on Nov. 30, said it has asked the FDA to bless emergency use of its COVID-19 vaccine mRNA-1273 after phase III data confirmed it to be 94.1% effective in preventing symptomatic cases of the disease and 100% effective in preventing severe cases. The Cambridge, Mass.-based company said efficacy was "consistent across age, race and ethnicity and gender demographics."
Moderna Inc., late on Nov. 30, said it has asked the FDA to bless emergency use of its COVID-19 vaccine mRNA-1273 after phase III data confirmed it to be 94.1% effective in preventing symptomatic cases of the disease and 100% effective in preventing severe cases. The Cambridge, Mass.-based company said efficacy was "consistent across age, race and ethnicity and gender demographics."
New York-based Hookipa Pharma Inc.’s positive interim data from a phase II study with what could become the first approved cytomegalovirus (CMV) vaccine, HB-101, lifted shares (NASDAQ:HOOK) to a high of $13.25 early in the day but the price leveled off later to close Nov. 30 at $11.60.
LONDON – Efficacy data for Russia’s Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine held steady at 91.4% in the second interim analysis, conducted after 39 confirmed cases of COVID-19 infection in 18,794 volunteers, seven days after they received the second dose.
LONDON – A third COVID-19 vaccine has turned in positive results in the phase III interim analysis, with Astrazeneca plc/Oxford University reporting an average of 70.4% efficacy across two dose regimens for AZD-1222. Significantly, efficacy increased to 90% in the prime-boost arm of the trial, in which volunteers received half a dose, followed by a full dose. In addition to greater protection, that will make supplies go further.
Enthusiasm stayed high but abated somewhat throughout the day as Wall Street took in the positive interim phase III results from Biontech SE and Pfizer Inc. with the COVID-19 vaccine candidate BNT-162b2.
Preparing for a Biden presidency in which COVID-19 will be a top priority, the Joe Biden-Kamala Harris transition team named a board of scientists and public health experts Nov. 9 to advise the team on how to respond to the surging pandemic in the U.S.
DUBLIN – The Lancet Infectious Diseases has published the first clinical data on BBIBP-CorV, an inactivated whole virus vaccine directed against SARS-CoV-2. The early stage phase I/II study tested the Chinese-developed vaccine in 540 healthy volunteers, including 96 older participants.
LONDON - The world’s first COVID-19 human challenge trial is due to start in London next year, after the government announced £33.6 million (US$42.5 million) funding for the project. In the initial phase, the aim is to establish the dose of SARS-CoV-2 needed to cause infection and to characterize the immune response to virus. That will lead on to tests of individual COVID-19 vaccines, in which volunteers will be challenged with the effective dose of SARS-CoV-2 one month after inoculation.
