As the race for a breakthrough in the discovery of vaccine by different drug manufacturers intensifies, American biotech firm, Moderna Inc, has given an idea of when they hope to get the desired result for the COVID-19 vaccine trial.
The Chief Executive Officer of Moderna Inc, Stephane Bancel, said that the efficacy data for its COVID-19 vaccine could be available by as soon as Thanksgiving, that is, by November if everything goes right.
Moderna’s coronavirus vaccine is in second stage trials, with final stage trials expected to start by next month on 30,000 people.
According to Bloomberg, Stephane Bancel in an interview said, “We could have efficacy data by Thanksgiving. This is the best timeline. While the US Food and Drug Administration would decide what to do next, they might decide to give us emergency use approval for people at very high risk, while the agency more carefully reviews the data before granting approval for a broader population.”
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He expressed cautious optimism that one or more of the vaccines in testing would work.
On the possibility that the coronavirus vaccine would prevent the disease but not completely stop COVID-19 infection as raised by some vaccine experts, Bancel said that the primary goal will be to prevent sickness, while Moderna’s big trial will measure whether the vaccine prevents infection.
According to him, “The number one priority is to make sure you get no disease, because of course people die from disease, not from infection.”
He said although the vaccines will not be free, as businesses don’t work like that, they are working at making its price affordable.
It can be recalled that a recent report had suggested that Moderna COVID-19 vaccine test on mice shows that it may not increase the risk of more serious diseases and that may provide protection against the COVID-19 virus by shielding vital organs such as lungs and noses, without side effects.
Bancel disclosed that it took Moderna 63 days, that is 2 months, to go from the sequence of a virus to start the clinical trial by injecting a human, but when they did the vaccine for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) it took about 20 months to go from a sequence of a virus to starting clinical trials.
