Moderna announces vaccine efficacy higher than Pfizer's

One of the leaders in the vaccine race, the American Moderna, announced the very high efficiency of its mRNA-1273 RNA vaccine against coronavirus at 94.5%, reported . Bloomberg

The effectiveness evaluation is based on the interim results of the third phase of clinical trials on 30,000 volunteers. In the group that received the vaccine, five people fell ill with coronavirus, in the control group - 90 people.

The sample size and results are comparable to those of Pfizer and BioNtech's 90% effective vaccine (we discussed its limitations here ). For the traditional Russian vaccine Sputnik-V, was given , but the sample size was almost three times smaller. an efficiency of 92%

Moderna jumped 18% today in premarket trading. Pfizer quotes fell 2%.

What you need to know about the Moderna vaccine

Efficiency at 95% is very good news. This is not bad even by the standards of traditional vaccines, and before the start of extended clinical trials, regulators were ready to certify coronavirus vaccines with 50-70%. Side effects are mild and short-lived, the researchers write.

The new vaccine has two important advantages over the Pfizer candidate. First, it was previously confirmed efficacy against severe cases of the disease: there were 11 such cases in the control group, none in the test group. Pfizer has yet to come up with statistics on severe cases.

Secondly, the stability of the vaccine is ensured for 30 days at the temperature of a conventional freezer (minus 20 degrees). Pfizer now requires the vaccine to be stored at minus 70 degrees (and guarantees a maximum of five days in the freezer before administration), but promises to lower the requirements.

Both vaccines belong to the same type of RNA vaccine that has not yet been tested in vaccination campaigns. Moderna vaccination is also two-stage with a gap of four weeks (Pfizer has three weeks).

Unlike Pfizer, Moderna used nearly $1bn of US federal funding from Warp Speed ​​but sold US$1.5bn worth of vaccines to the US. Pfizer used €375m of its own and EU funds in development, but received almost $2bn in US federal pre-order billion

What's next

If all goes well, the new vaccine will almost keep up with the competitor. Moderna expects to hit 151 infections soon and submit the results for regulatory approval in a couple of weeks. If it is received, mass production will begin in December. “If we get an emergency clearance, we will start distribution on Warp Speed ​​for hours. Almost instantly," Reuters quoted company president Stephen Hoge as saying.

Thus, by the end of the year, the United States can receive two vaccines at once, urgently approved for production. The European regulator has also jumped into the on-the-fly Moderna vaccine evaluation process to urgently approve it if successful.

It is expected that vaccination in the United States will start before the end of the year for health workers and risk groups. From February, mass vaccination should begin, during which Moderna should have an advantage over the competitor due to standard storage conditions.

Developing countries will receive the Moderna vaccine in the second place: 100 million doses have been reserved by the United States, 80 million doses by the European Union, 50 million by Japan and the same amount by Canada. This leaves a market niche for the Russian vaccine - the construction of a production facility for it in Kazakhstan was announced just today. There may be problems with the actual serial production of Sputnik-V, wrote The Bell.