A major breakthrough from the pharmaceutical company Moderna today promising a coronavirus vaccine that is 100 percent effective against severe Covid-19 and there appears to be no evidence that efficacy is worse at older ages. These are primary results of the study. Englnad has secured seven million doses of enough for around 3.5 million people in the UK.
Moderna said the analysis of the phase three COVE study of the vaccine candidate, called mRNA-1273, involving 30,000 participants included 196 cases of Covid-19, of which 30 cases were severe. Vaccine efficacy against the disease was 94.1 per cent, and vaccine efficacy against severe Covid-19 was 100 per cent.
It added that the jab is generally well tolerated with no serious safety concerns identified to date. Announcing the results on Monday, Moderna said it has submitted emergency use authorisation from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), to apply for a conditional marketing authorisation with the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and to progress with the rolling reviews, which have already been initiated with international regulatory agencies.
Update: Moderna’s data for the Emergency Use Authorization request for mRNA-1273 has been submitted to the U.S. FDA.
— Moderna (@moderna_tx) November 30, 2020
Stephane Bancel, chief executive of Moderna, said: "This positive primary analysis confirms the ability of our vaccine to prevent Covid-19 disease with 94.1 per cent efficacy and importantly, the ability to prevent severe Covid-19 disease. "We believe that our vaccine will provide a new and powerful tool that may change the course of the pandemic and help prevent severe disease, hospitalisations and death."
The analysis released on Monday was based on 196 cases, of which 185 cases of Covid-19 were observed in the placebo group, versus 11 cases observed in the vaccinated group.