Moderna Inc said on Thursday its COVID-19 shot was about 93% effective through six months after the second dose, showing hardly any change from the 94% efficacy reported in its original clinical test However, it said it still expects booster shots to be necessary before the winter season as antibody levels are expected to wane. It and rival Pfizer Inc and BioNTech SE are advocating a 3rd shot to take care of a high level of protection against COVID-19.
During a second-quarter earnings call, Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel said that the corporate wouldn’t produce quite the 800 million to 1 billion doses of the vaccine that it’s targeted this year.
“We are now capacity constrained for 2021, and that we aren’t taking any longer orders for 2021 delivery,” he said Moderna shares fell 3.6% to around $403.87 in pre-market trading after closing at $419.05 on Wednesday.
The Moderna data compares favorably thereto released by Pfizer and BioNTech last week during which they said their vaccine’s efficacy waned around 6% every two months, declining to around 84% six months after the second shot Both the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines are supported messenger RNA (mRNA) technology.
“Our COVID-19 vaccine is showing durable efficacy of 93% through six months, but recognize that the Delta variant may be a significant new threat so we must remain vigilant,” Bancel said.
The comment comes as public health officials across the planet debate whether additional doses are safe, effective and necessary whilst they grapple with the fast-spreading Delta variant of the coronavirus.
Meanwhile, Pfizer is getting to seek authorization for a 3rd shot later this month, and a few countries like Israel have begun or decide to start administering a booster to older or vulnerable people.
Booster Candidates
Separately, Moderna said its studies of three different booster candidates induced robust antibody responses against variants, including the Gamma, Beta and Delta variants It said neutralizing antibody levels following the boost approached those observed after the second shot.
For this year, Moderna has signed vaccine contracts worth $20 billion in sales. it’s agreements for $12 billion in 2022, with options for an additional roughly $8 billion in sales and expects to supply between 2 billion and three billion doses next year.
The company, however, has not been ready to keep step with the much larger Pfizer, which expects to manufacture as many as 3 billion doses this year and 2021 sales to top $33.5 billion. Moderna’s vaccine was authorized for emergency use in adults within the us in December and has since been cleared for emergency or conditional use in adults in additional than 50 countries The company expects to end its submission for full approval with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration this month.
It posted second-quarter sales of $4.4 billion, slightly above expectations of $4.2 billion drawn from 10 analysts polled by Refinitiv. Its COVID-19 shot is that the firm’s first authorized product and sales were just $67 million a year earlier.
Moderna earned $2.78 billion, or $6.46 a share, beating quarterly expectations of $5.96 a share.