UC Berkeley University Health Services medical assistant Nova Rodriguez prepares a dose of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine before administering it to colleagues at the University Health Services staff at the Tang Center near UC Berkeley in Berkeley, California.
Jessica Christian | San Francisco Chronicle | Hearst Newspapers via Getty Images
Moderna said on Monday that it is speeding up work on a Covid-19 booster to protect itself against the variant recently discovered in South Africa.
His researchers said his current coronavirus vaccine appears to work against the two highly transmissible strains found in the United Kingdom and South Africa, although it appears that it may be less effective against the latter.
The two-dose vaccine produced an antibody response against multiple variants, including B.1.1.7 and B.1.351, which were first identified in the United Kingdom and South Africa, respectively, according to a Modern study conducted in collaboration with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. The study has not yet been peer-reviewed.
The vaccine generated a weaker immune response against the South African strain, but the antibodies remained above levels that should be protective against the virus, the company said, adding that the findings may suggest “a potential risk of decreased immunity to new ones. B.1.351 strains. “
“With great caution and taking advantage of the flexibility of our mRNA platform, we are promoting an emerging variant reinforcement candidate against the variant first identified in the Republic of South Africa to the clinic to determine whether it will be more effective to increase titers against it. and potentially future variants, “Moderna CEO CEO Stephane Bancel said in a statement.
Moderna’s shares rose almost 4% in the pre-market after the announcement.
On Thursday, White House health consultant Dr. Anthony Fauci said new data showed that Covid-19 vaccines currently on the market may not be as effective in protecting against new, more contagious strains of the coronavirus. Some previous findings that were published on the prepress server bioRxiv indicate that the South African variant may escape the antibodies provided by some coronavirus treatments.
The Food and Drug Administration authorized Moderna’s vaccine for people aged 18 and over in December.
Moderna’s vaccine, like Pfizer’s, uses messenger RNA, or mRNA, technology. It is a new approach to vaccines that uses genetic material to elicit an immune response. Data from final-stage clinical trials published in November show that Moderna’s vaccine is more than 94% effective in preventing Covid, is safe and appears to prevent serious illness. To achieve maximum effectiveness, the vaccine requires two doses administered four weeks apart.
This is a developing story. Please check again for updates.
–CNBC’s Noah Higgins-Dunn contributed to this report.