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Moderna reports 94.5 percent efficacy of its vaccination and thus equally good values of the Biontech active ingredient, but an added bonus. Switzerland has already reserved 4.5 million cans.
Hopefully, the first vaccinations with the Moderna active ingredient could be given in Switzerland before July (symbolic image of a corona vaccination with another active ingredient).
Photo: Keystone
A week after Pfizer / Biontech, interim results of a second Covid vaccine are known. Moderna’s active ingredient candidate achieved 94.5 percent effectiveness, the company announced. “According to the interim analysis, no significant side effects have been found so far,” says Dan Staner, the Swiss head of Moderna in an interview.
Switzerland signed a vaccine supply contract with the US biotech company in August. The Swiss pharmaceutical supplier Lonza produces the active ingredient for it, around 400 million doses have to be produced every year. Production of Lonza in the United States has been underway since September and, according to Lonza, is expected to start this year in Visp, Valais. Production in the USA is intended for the US market. Those of Visp for the rest of the world.
According to Lonza Staner’s manager, Switzerland should expect a delivery “in the first half of 2021” if there are no problems with the approval process. If all goes well, the Federal Office of Public Health (BAG) hopes to be able to start vaccinations by July.
Because now there are two promising candidate vaccines against Covid-19. A week ago, German biotech firm Biontech and US partner Pfizer presented data on its vaccine. As a result, it offers over 90% protection against Covid-19.
Important questions still open
Modern like Biontech wants to apply for emergency approval from the US FDA in November. On Friday, Moderna submitted an application for a so-called Continuous authorization procedure submitted to the Swiss authorization authority Swissmedic. In this process, data is sent while clinical trials are underway, not at the end, to speed up the process.
Despite good interim results data, important questions still remain. For example, it is not clear how long vaccine protection lasts. And: if the vaccination is only for self-protection or if it also prevents the transmission of the coronavirus to others. If so, the pandemic could be stopped more quickly.
Gene-based vaccine
Just like Pfizer / Biontech’s vaccine, Moderna’s vaccine is gene-based: it contains a gene snippet, a so-called mRNA or messenger RNA. It provides the model for a viral protein on the virus outer shell. As a result, the vaccinated person produces this viral protein, which stimulates the immune system to form defense cells against the coronavirus. Messenger RNA is not incorporated into the human genome and breaks down rapidly.
The clinical trial von Modern nA total of 30,000 people participate, half of whom are injected with a placebo instead of vaccination without their knowledge. Since the study began in July, 95 of the participants were infected while going about their daily lives. 90 of them had received the bogus substance, 5 had been infected despite the vaccine. This results in an effectiveness of 94.5 percent. Of the 95 patients, 11 suffered from severe symptoms. None of the 11 had received the vaccine. According to initial data, the elderly develop the same amount of antibodies after vaccination as the young.
Experts consider the results encouraging: “It is the first study that also reports serious cases,” says the pharmacepidemiologist Stephen Evans of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine the “Süddeutsche Zeitung”: “And although there is still uncertainty in the results, the absence of severe cases in the vaccine group and the occurrence of eleven such severe diseases in the placebo group are very strong evidence that the vaccine prevents both mild and severe cycles.”
The advantage of the Monderna vaccine
Moderna points out another advantage of its vaccine: it needs less cooling. “The vaccine candidate is expected to remain stable for 30 days at standard refrigerator temperatures of 2 to 8 degrees Celsius,” says Staner. Previous estimates assumed that the active ingredient could only be stored for 7 days at refrigerator temperature without being damaged.
“It is impossible for us to administer the vaccination without profit.”
Although both vaccine candidates are based on the same mRNA technology, Moderna’s vaccination is said to charge $ 32 to $ 37 more per dose than Pfizer / Biontech, who want to charge $ 20.It is impossible for us to give up vaccination without profit“, explains the manager of Moderna Staner. Unlike the US company Pfizer, Moderna does not have a single drug on the market and is therefore dependent on profitsto fund research. The US start-up has to develop vaccines, however, like Biontech receive government funding.
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