Chitra Roy, University of Calcutta
An American biotechnology company ‘Moderna’, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts focuses on the discovery and development of drugs in addition to vaccine technologies. They exclusively use messenger RNA (mRNA) therapeutics and designs vaccines to create a completely new generation of transformative medicines. Against COVID-19, Moderna has developed its mRNA vaccine candidate known as mRNA-1273 and began its Phase 3 study from 27th of July,2020. The Phase 3 trial is also known as COVE- Coronavirus Efficacy study where 30,000 individuals in the United States were given the mRNA-1273 dosage of 100 µg. In this trial, half of the subject candidates received the vaccine and the other half received a placebo and their study focused on how many among them would develop symptomatic COVID-19. Their primary endpoint is the prevention of symptomatic COVID-19. And their secondary endpoints include to prevent severe COVID-19 cases where there is a need for hospitalization and also, to prevent any infection by SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) regardless of symptomology.
Currently, Moderna is expecting the interim results of its Phase 3 trials by next month. As reported by their Chief Executive Stephane Bancel during The Wall Street Journal’s annual Tech Live Conference, that, if the results are in favour of their vaccine based on the positive interim results, the US government can authorise the ‘emergency use’ of the mRNA-1273 vaccine in December. Also mentioning that if it gets longer to generate sufficient interim results, the government authorization of their vaccine might not occur until early next year. Their first analysis will occur in November but it might become difficult to predict the exact week of November because it will depend on the number of symptomatic cases and on the number of people getting severely affected which might vary.
Presently, Moderna is developing one of the leading coronavirus vaccines. Meanwhile, another vaccine is co-developed by U.S. drugmaker Pfizer Inc and Germany’s BioNTech. In the previous week, Pfizer announced that the COVID-19 vaccine which is under their development can be filed in late November for U.S authorization. Pfizer Chief Executive Albert Bourla stated that if positive data is received by the third week of November, only then Pfizer will apply for Emergency Authorisation Use in the U.S.
Moderna in the previous month also announced its willingness to get real-time reviews of their experimental ongoing COVID-19 vaccine. This month The European Medicines Agency has launched real-time reviews of COVID-19 vaccines developed by Pfizer and BioNTech.
Hope, for the COVID-19 vaccine, is on the horizon!
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Bluetongue Disease: a viral disease
Ankita Chattopadhyay, Amity University Kolkata Bluetongue is a viral disease affecting sheep, cattle, deer, and goats. It is a non-contagious, insect-borne disease to which all species of ruminants are susceptible. Studies show that sheep are mostly the victims but the cattle are the main mammal reservoir of the virus. This virus is a notifiable disease […]