In the worldwide race for a corona vaccine, another research project has reported a decisive success. In an interim analysis, the corona vaccine of the US biotech company Moderna showed an efficacy of 94.5 percent in protecting against Covid-19. Moderna expects to be able to apply for emergency approval in the USA in the coming weeks, the company announced on Monday.
Over 90 percent protection
Moderna is the second major U.S. pharmaceutical company to present positive data from the pivotal study with a corona vaccine within one week. Last Monday, the Mainz-based biotech company BioNTech and its US partner Pfizer announced that Moderna is the second major US pharmaceutical company to present positive data from the pivotal study with a corona vaccine within one week. Moderna contends that the vaccination provides more than 90 percent protection against Covid-19
The drug manufacturer Moderna expects with some luck a US emergency approval for its own corona vaccine in December. The prerequisite for this is that Moderna achieves positive interim results in a study in November, said CEO Stephane Bancel at a meeting of the “Wall Street Journal”.
With an emergency approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), parts of the U.S. population – for example medical personnel or the elderly – could be vaccinated even before official approval.
Pfizer also wants emergency approval
On Friday, the US pharmaceutical company Pfizer, which cooperates with the German company Biontech, had already announced that it might apply for emergency approval in the USA for its vaccine in November. The prerequisite is that efficacy and safety data are positive in the ongoing trials.
Moderna and Pfizer/Biontech are among the companies with particularly promising vaccine candidates. Already in the decisive phase, they are investigating with thousands of test persons whether their products actually protect against corona infection.
The Chinese pharmaceutical company Sinopharm has also tested its potential corona vaccine on around 60,000 people in a pivotal Phase III study to date. No serious side effects have been observed, said CEO Liu Jingzhen at a government press conference. In the coming year, the company could be able to produce more than one billion doses of the vaccine.
hector pascua, with reports from futurezone.at. Picture: pixabay.com
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