Amid the ongoing coronavirus crisis, an experimental vaccine by Moderna Inc has raised hopes after it showed positive results in a small early-stage trial. According to early results from the study conducted by the National Institutes of Health, eight patients who were administered Moderna’s vaccine were found to have antibody levels similar to those in blood samples of people who have recovered from coronavirus. However, there is no treatment or vaccine so far against the life-threatening coronavirus pandemic. The experts are of the view that it may take 12-18 months to come up with such a vaccine.
“We are investing to scale up manufacturing so we can maximize the number of doses we can produce to help protect as many people as we can from SARS-CoV-2,” Moderna Chief Executive Officer Stéphane Bancel said in a statement. The Moderna team continues to focus on moving as fast as safely possible to start our pivotal Phase 3 study in July and, if successful, file a BLA, Bancel added.
Moderna also said that it has signed deals with Swiss contract drugmaker Lonza Group AG and the US government to produce massive quantities of its coronavirus vaccine.
Shares of Moderna surged more than 30 per cent in the intraday trade Monday. Moderna stock has more than tripled since February and risen 240 percent in the year through Monday’s close.
Meanwhile, worldwide, 4,891,330 people have been infected by coronavirus so far, according to Worldometer. The total number of deaths from COVID-19 now stands at 320,121.
