Catching Both Original and Variant COVID-19 Viruses... Moderna Announces Clinical Trial of Bivalent Vaccine

Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine [Image Source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Chun-hee] Moderna has announced clinical data on the development of a multivalent messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) vaccine that can prevent not only the original COVID-19 virus but also various variants.

On the 19th (local time), Moderna released clinical data for 'mRNA-1273.211,' a bivalent booster vaccine under development. mRNA-1273.211 was designed to include the Beta variant.

According to the clinical data released by Moderna, one month after administering 50㎍ of mRNA-1273.211, superior antibody responses were demonstrated not only against the Beta variant but also against the Delta and Omicron variants, and this superiority in antibodies against Beta and Omicron variants persisted for six months after vaccination. Compared to the existing Moderna vaccine mRNA-1273 (Spikevax), which is currently used as an additional booster shot, the neutralizing antibody titers against Omicron increased by 2.20 times one month after vaccination and by 2.15 times six months after vaccination.

In terms of tolerability, it was found to be similar to Spikevax 50㎍. These study results were published in preprint form on Research Square.

Stefan Bancel, CEO of Moderna, stated, "These clinical results validate Moderna's bivalent vaccine development strategy announced in February last year," and explained, "The mRNA-1273.211 booster shot induced higher antibody responses against variants not included in the vaccine compared to the Spikevax booster."

In addition to mRNA-1273.211, Moderna is developing another bivalent booster vaccine candidate, mRNA-1273.214, which combines an Omicron-specific booster candidate. CEO Bancel said, "It is a leading vaccine candidate for additional vaccinations in Northern Hemisphere countries this fall," and expected related initial data to be shared by the end of the second quarter.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.