The first coup Modernin (NASDAQ: MRNA) the two-dose vaccine against coronavirus has not reached the millions who will receive it, but the company is already planning to evaluate the effectiveness of a booster.
In a presentation at this year’s annual JP Morgan Healthcare Conference, Moderna said it plans to do so in a clinical trial involving participants in previous studies of the vaccine, mRNA-1273. He has already started contacting potential participants and plans to start the study in July.
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“From what we’ve seen so far, I think our expectation is that vaccination should last at least a year,” said Tal Zaks, Medical Director at Moderna, during the conference. “To the extent that you need a booster shot, we will make a data-based recommendation, and that will require us to get the data.”
In the planned study, Moderna will try to determine the level of immune response that is still being generated by the booster injection, said CEO Stephane Bancel at the event.
It is the right time for a follow-up study, as participants in the first clinical trials of the vaccine are approaching the one-year anniversary of receiving the booster. They received their first chance in mid-March 2020.
Moderna is one of two coronavirus vaccines that have received emergency use authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. However, the mRNA-1273 and Pfizer/BioNTechThe company’s two-shot BNT162b2 was slow. The number of patients who received the first dose remains alarmingly low.