How’s the Moderna anti Covid vaccine going?

A large and crucial study on Covid-19 Modern vaccine could provide a preliminary response that operates safely already in October, although it is more likely to be in November, he said the leader of the company – reports the WSJ .

Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel said in an interview that the timing will depend on the infection rates in the U.S. locations where the study is being conducted, because the study is comparing whether fewer vaccinated people have symptoms of Covid. 19 compared to unvaccinated people.

Researchers will evaluate this at intervals after the occurrence of a number of cases, ranging from 53 to 151 cases.

" Fortunately for the US population it has improved in recent weeks, " he said, referring to a general decline in new cases since August. " This actually makes an October reading on vaccine efficacy more difficult ."

His observations suggest that the executives of Moderna and Pfizer Inc. have similar goals for obtaining key data from the final trials for their respective vaccine candidates. Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla, in recent television interviews, also provided a time frame for the end of October. Its vaccine is under development with partner BioNTech SE.

If Moderna's interim results are positive, the company could apply for government authorization for emergency use of the vaccine soon thereafter, Bancel said. This could lead to a rapid distribution of the available doses, which Moderna is producing.

The US government has told states it is ready to help distribute one or more Covid-19 vaccines as early as late October or November, although some officials, including National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases director Anthony Fauci, they said it could be later in the year.

While the trials will yield positive results in the fall, most people won't be able to get vaccinated until next year because supplies will be limited at the start of the year.

Moderna and Pfizer have two major vaccine candidates. Phase 3 testing for another advanced vaccine candidate has been halted in the United States and several other countries due to an unspecified safety incident, although testing has resumed in the UK.

The advanced phase of the Moderna trial, or Phase 3, has enrolled more than 25,000 people since the start of the federally funded trial in July, toward a goal of 30,000 people.

Also on Thursday, Moderna publicly released the 135-page protocol for the clinical study, which the company says will provide transparency on its rapid development efforts.

The Moderna protocol explains how the study is conducted, including the involvement of an independent committee that monitors the data as the study progresses and may recommend discontinuing the study in case of safety concerns. The committee may also recommend stopping the trial at intermediate points if the vaccine is clearly effective.