Moderna shares set to soar after Covid-19 vaccine 95% effective

• Moderna shares extend gains after Covid-19 vaccine shows nearly 95% efficacy rate
• The US-based biotech will now submit regulatory filings around the world
• Moderna’s drug, along with Pfizer’s own vaccine, help bolster financial markets

Moderna shares extend gains after Covid-19 vaccine shows close to 95% efficacy rate in latest trials, with financial markets bolstered by several coronavirus drugs that could see an end to economic restrictions as early as spring.

‘This is a pivotal moment in the development of our Covid-19 vaccine candidate,’ Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel said. ‘Since early January, we have chased this virus with the intent to protect as many people around the world as possible.’

‘All along, we have known that each day matters,’ she said. ‘This positive interim analysis from our Phase 3 study has given us the first clinical validation that our vaccine can prevent Covid-19 disease, including severe disease.’

‘We look forward to the next milestones of submitting for an EUA in the US and regulatory filings in countries around the world, while we continue to collect data on the safety and efficacy of the vaccine in the COVE study,’ she added.

Moderna shares are trading 9% higher on Monday at the time of publication, with the stock up 406% year-to-date.

Synairgen’s new drug could accelerate Covid-19 recovery

Southampton-based biotech company, Synairgen, developed a naturally produced protein which helps the body fight viral infections. The company also said the drug ‘may have the potential as an inhaled drug to restore the lung's immune response and accelerate recovery from Covid-19’

‘The results confirm our belief that interferon beta, a widely known drug approved for use in its injectable form for other indications, may have the potential as an inhaled drug to restore the lung’s immune response and accelerate recovery from COVID-19,’ Professor Tom Wilkinson, Professor of Respiratory Medicine at the University of Southampton and Lead Author, said.

‘This pH neutral, inhaled interferon beta-1a formulation (SNG001) provides high, local concentrations of the immune protein which boosts lung defences rather than targeting specific viral mechanisms,’ he said.

‘This might carry additional advantages of treating Covid-19 when it occurs alongside infection by another respiratory virus such as influenza or Respiratory Syncytial Virus that may well be encountered in the winter months,’ Wilkinson added.

Will the world have a vaccine in 2020?

The vaccine candidate is one of many that governments hope to fast-track approval for using emergency powers, and Pfizer and BioNTech have said they will be in a position to publish the data needed to get the green light from the US Food & Drug Administration ‘by the third week of November’.

Although the candidate could be the first widely accepted vaccine to be approved, the trial will continue to monitor participants for the next two years to ensure it is safe over the long term. Meanwhile, the pair are drawing up plans to outline how the vaccine will be produced if its approved.

Ultimately, if everything goes to plan, the pair are hoping to produce up to 50 million doses of the vaccine by the end of 2020, before raising the stakes by producing 1.3 billion doses in 2021. It is important to remember that the trial suggests people will need two doses of the vaccine for it to work, meaning there is only enough capacity at present to potentially treat around 650 million people by the end of next year.

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