Drug maker Moderna has just announced encouraging interim results from
the ongoing phase 1 trial for its experimental coronavirus vaccine. The
early results suggest the vaccine has the potential to confer immunity
against covid-19 in people.What is the vaccine and how does it work? Moderna
specializes in vaccines designed to elicit an immune response against
the coronavirus through the virus’s mRNA—genetic instructions for the
virus to replicate inside the host.
The new results: Moderna
just released antibody data for eight participants. Four received two
shots of 25 micrograms of the drug and four received two shots of 100
micrograms. The 25-microgram participants developed neutralizing
antibodies to the coronavirus at levels comparable to recovered covid-19
patients; those in the 100-microgram arm had antibody levels that
“significantly exceeded” the level in recovered patients.
Next steps: The
results are encouraging, but we can’t draw conclusions yet. Way more
data is needed. The FDA has already given Moderna approval for a phase 2
trial (testing the drug’s biological effect on patients, as opposed to
just its safety) and a phase 3 trial is expected to start in July. According to the Wall Street Journal,
if all Moderna’s trials go well—and that’s a big if—the FDA could grant
emergency-use authorization for the vaccine by the fall.