The American biotech company Moderna announced on Wednesday that a modified version of its vaccine, developed specifically against the South African variant, was ready to be tested in humans in clinical trials.
In a statement, the company said it had "sent doses of its specific candidate vaccine against the variant [...] first identified in South Africa" to the US National Institutes of Health (NIH).
The South African variant is considered by scientists to be one of the most worrying because it has been shown to be able in part to counter the immune defenses developed after infection with the strain virus or after the injection of a vaccine.
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In January, Moderna announced that it had seen a slight reduction in the effectiveness of its vaccine against the South African variant.
A finding that also applied to the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, according to the New York Times.
Moderna had therefore decided to launch the development of a new formula.
Several avenues considered
She is considering several options to strengthen the immune protection of her vaccine.
Either use the new formula (called mRNA-1273.351) for an additional injection after the initial vaccine, or offer a single dose combining the new formula and the initial vaccine, or inject a third dose of the initial vaccine.
Another strategy would be to use, as the first dose, the modified vaccine, or the combination of the modified and initial vaccine.
"In our fight against Covid-19, we must be vigilant and proactive about the new variants of SARS-CoV-2 that are emerging," said Stéphane Bancel, boss of Moderna, quoted in the press release.
"Moderna is committed to making as many changes to our vaccine as necessary, until the pandemic is under control," he continued.
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WHO "
worried
" about the effectiveness of vaccines against variants
The US Medicines Agency (FDA) said Monday that manufacturers would not have to conduct long clinical trials again for modified versions of their already authorized vaccines, but less extensive tests.
This should greatly speed up their marketing in the event of conclusive results.
This is already happening, for example, with modified versions of influenza vaccines every year.
The laboratory also announced that it had raised its dose production forecasts for 2021 from 600 million to 700 million.
The company also said it has invested to be able to produce 1.4 billion doses in 2022.
So far, the company has delivered around 60 million doses, including 55 million for the United States.