Results from Moderna’s latest clinical trial on how its vaccine reacts against emerging variants of COVID-19 has found that efficacy remains intact.
The biotechnology company on Monday said studies on individuals show that vaccination with the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine produced neutralizing antibodies against all key emerging variants tested, including B.1.1.7 and B.1.351, first identified in the UK and South Africa.
The rise of these new strains had generated wide debate and scepticism on the efficacy of earlier developed vaccines, with many arguing that the strains would weaken the vaccines.
Although the study found no significant impact on neutralizing antibodies against the UK variant, a six-fold reduction in neutralizing was observed with the South African variant relative to prior variants.
But there is no cause for alarm as the reduction remains above protective levels.
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“As we seek to defeat the COVID-19 virus, which has created a worldwide pandemic, we believe it is imperative to be proactive as the virus evolves. We are encouraged by these new data, which reinforce our confidence that the Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine should be protective against these newly detected variants,” said Stéphane Bancel, Moderna’s chief executive officer said in a statement on Monday.
“Out of an abundance of caution and leveraging the flexibility of our mRNA platform, we are advancing an emerging variant booster candidate against the variant first identified in the Republic of South Africa into the clinic to determine if it will be more effective to boost titers against this and potentially future variants.”
The SARS-CoV-2, B.1.1.7 first detected in the UK last September has had 17 mutations in the viral genome with eight mutations located in the spike protein.
The B.1.351 variant, first detected in South Africa, has ten mutations located in the spike protein. Both variants have spread at a rapid rate and are associated with increased transmission and a higher viral burden after infection.
The in vitro study assessed the ability of the vaccine to elicit potently neutralizing antibodies against the new SARS-CoV-2 variants, using sera from eight participants in phase one of the clinical trial (aged 18-55 years).
For the SA variant, neutralizing antibody titers remained high and were generally consistent with neutralizing titers relative to prior variants.
For the B.1.351 variant, vaccination with the Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine produces neutralizing antibody titers that remain above the neutralizing titers that were shown to protect NHPs against wild type viral challenge.
While the company expects these levels of neutralizing antibodies to be protective, pseudo virus-neutralizing antibody was approximately 6-fold lower, relative to prior variants. These lower titers may suggest a potential risk of earlier waning of immunity to the new B.1.351 strains, the company said.
