Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Moderna Encouraged By Test Results Of Redesigned Covid Vaccine
NPR: Moderna Says Its New 'Bivalent' Vaccine Shows Promise
The pharmaceutical company Moderna announced Tuesday that a new version of the company's COVID-19 vaccine appears to provide stronger, longer-lasting protection against variants of the virus than the original vaccine. Preliminary results from a study testing a vaccine that targets both the original strain of the virus and the beta variant — a so-called "bivalent" vaccine — appears to produce high levels of antibodies for months that can neutralize the virus. "We believe that these results validate our bivalent strategy," said Stéphane Bancel, Moderna's chief executive officer, in a news release. (Stein, 4/19)
The New York Times: Moderna Says Trial Suggests Redesigned Vaccines Protect Against Variants
But the company said it was also testing another version of the vaccine that it expected would do even better, with results expected in late May or early June. The company’s findings, published in a paper without being evaluated by outside scientists, offer hope that the nation will have a better vaccine by the fall, when the coronavirus is considered likely to re-emerge in force. (LaFraniere, 4/19)
NBC News: Moderna Says Redesigned Covid Booster Provides Better Protection
The redesigned shot was tested in a clinical trial of 300 people at 50 micrograms — the same dosage currently given in the existing booster shot. (The first two doses of the Moderna vaccine, called the primary series, are 100 micrograms each.) The shot was also well tolerated, the company said, producing side effects in trial participants similar to those seen in its existing product. Moderna did not say whether they would be submitting the beta-variant bivalent vaccine results to the Food and Drug Administration. The modified booster is currently not available. (Lovelace Jr., 4/19)
Also —
Stat: Moderna Data Yield Hope For Better Covid Boosters, But Highlight Complexity Of Figuring Out How To Give Them
New data from Moderna offer hope that booster shots against Covid-19 could become at least somewhat more effective than they already are. But the data also point to how difficult it could be to determine exactly which Covid shots to give as annual boosters. On Tuesday Moderna released data testing a booster shot that is bivalent, meaning it contains equal amounts of vaccine from two different strains of the virus. This booster, currently known by the code number mRNA-1273.211, contains equal mRNA amounts of ancestral SARS-CoV-2 and spike proteins from the Beta variant of SARS-CoV-2, which originally emerged in South Africa. It does not contain vaccine targeted specifically against the Delta or Omicron variants that caused the most recent waves of Covid-19. (Herper, 4/19)
