Health

Moderna’s COVID vaccine shows promise in protecting older adults

US-based biotech company Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine candidate has shown signs of working in older adults, new results from an early stage trial have revealed

Representative Image (Photo Courtesy: IANS) 
Representative Image (Photo Courtesy: IANS)  

US-based biotech company Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine candidate has shown signs of working in older adults, new results from an early stage trial have revealed.

This study evaluated a two-dose vaccination schedule of Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine candidate mRNA-1273 given 28 days apart in 40 healthy adult participants across two dose levels -- 25 and 100 microgram -- in two age cohorts --ages 56-70 and ages 71+.

These results, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, showed that both the 25 microgram and 100 microgram dose levels were generally well-tolerated in both age cohorts, with no serious adverse events reported one month after the second dose.

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"These interim Phase 1 data suggests that mRNA-1273, our vaccine candidate for the prevention of COVID-19, can generate neutralizing antibodies in older and elderly adults at levels comparable to those in younger adults," Tal Zaks, Chief Medical Officer of Moderna, said in a statement.

"Given the increased morbidity and mortality of COVID-19 in older and elderly adults, these data give us optimism in demonstrating mRNA-1273's protection in this population, which is being evaluated in the Phase 3 COVE study."

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Immune responses were dose-dependent with the 100 microgram dose eliciting higher binding and neutralising antibody titers, supporting the selection of the 100 microgram dose for further study in the Phase-3 trial.

The study was led by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the US National Institutes of Health (NIH).

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The most common solicited adverse events were headache, fatigue, myalgia, chills, and pain at the injection site, the majority of which were mild-to-moderate in severity and of self-limited duration, Moderna said.

The US government has agreed to purchase 100 million doses of mRNA-1273, with an option to purchase an additional 400 million doses.

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