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Moderna commences Phase 2 study of omicron-specific booster

By Brian Buntz | January 27, 2022

ModernaMere days after rivals Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) and BioNTech (NSDQ:BNTX) announced the launch of a study testing an omicron-based booster vaccine candidate, Moderna (NSDQ:MRNA) has announced its own trial of an omicron-specific vaccine.

The vaccine booster candidate, mRNA-1273.529, will be the subject of a Phase 2 study involving approximately 600 participants divided into two cohorts.

The first cohort in the trial will receive a dose of the mRNA-1273.529 after receiving a primary series of the COVID-19 vaccine mRNA-1273. The second cohort will receive a dose of mRNA-1273.529 after receiving a two-dose primary series and a 50-µg booster dose of the same vaccine.

The first cohort will receive a dose of mRNA-1273.529 at least six months after completion of a primary series. The second cohort will receive the mRNA-1273.529 vaccine candidate three months after receipt of a third dose.

The company is also considering including the omicron-specific vaccine candidate in its multivalent booster program.

The company had previously announced that a third dose of the mRNA-1273 appeared to result in a considerable increase in protection against the omicron variant. A 50-µg booster of the vaccine led to an approximately 37-fold increase in neutralizing antibody levels against omicron. A 100-µg booster led to a roughly 83-fold increase.

Moderna recently published neutralizing antibody data for the omicron variant in The New England Journal of Medicine.

Moderna also has a variety of COVID-19 vaccine candidates in its pipeline, including versions for the beta and delta variants as well as two multivalent candidates. In addition, the company is developing a next-generation refrigerator-stable COVID-19 vaccine known as mRNA-1283.

Moderna is also currently conducting a trial involving its mRNA-1273 vaccine in children aged 2 to 5 years. It expects to share data from that trial in March.


Filed Under: clinical trials, Drug Discovery, Infectious Disease
Tagged With: coronavirus, covid-19, COVID-19 vaccine, Moderna, Moderna COVID-19 vaccine, mRNA-1273, mRNA-1273.52, mRNA-1283
 

About The Author

Brian Buntz

As the pharma and biotech editor at WTWH Media, Brian has almost two decades of experience in B2B media, with a focus on healthcare and technology. While he has long maintained a keen interest in AI, more recently Brian has made making data analysis a central focus, and is exploring tools ranging from NLP and clustering to predictive analytics.

Throughout his 18-year tenure, Brian has covered an array of life science topics, including clinical trials, medical devices, and drug discovery and development. Prior to WTWH, he held the title of content director at Informa, where he focused on topics such as connected devices, cybersecurity, AI and Industry 4.0. A dedicated decade at UBM saw Brian providing in-depth coverage of the medical device sector. Engage with Brian on LinkedIn or drop him an email at bbuntz@wtwhmedia.com.

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