Moderna shares soar on coronavirus vaccine hopes
Shares in biotech firm Moderna jumped almost nine per cent this afternoon, after Anthony Fauci said the company’s coronavirus vaccine could prove as successful as Pfizer’s.
US pharmaceuticals firm Moderna is set to publish late-stage trial results of its Covid vaccine as soon as next week.
Fauci, the leading infectious disease expert in the US, today said he would “be surprised if we didn’t see a similar degree of efficacy” from Moderna’s vaccine than that of Pfizer and Biontech’s announced earlier this week.
The pair announced on Monday that its experimental coronavirus vaccine saw 90 per cent success rates in clinical trials involving more than 43,000 patients.
The news electrified stock markets around the world and boosted hopes that a return to normality lies on the horizon.
“We were told that literally in the next few days to a week they’ll be doing the same thing of looking at the data as the Pfizer people did a week ago,” Fauci said at a conference held by the Financial Times.
“It may not be 95 per cent, it might be 90 per cent, or 96 per cent, or 89 per cent, but it is going to be up there,” he said.
Moderna, which uses a technology similar to Pfizer’s, said earlier today that its November timeline for initial data was on track.
The announcement sent shares up 8.9 per cent to $82.8 on the New York Stock Exchange this afternoon, marking its highest price since July, when the company announced it would start its final-stage trial of the vaccine.
Like Pfizer and Biontech, Moderna will still have to wait for two-month follow up data on whether the vaccine has passed safety guidelines.
If successful, the company will apply for emergency use authorisation in the US, with hopes to roll the vaccine out further afield.
Earlier today, chief executive Stephane Bancel said at a Credit Suisse conference the world would “have to wait” for more data to understand whether the use of a particular vaccine would be more widespread.
Health secretary Matt Hancock urged cautious optimism over vaccine hopes, but said the NHS would prepare for rollout by December in case a drug is approved.
It comes as the UK’s top health officials today announced the priority list for vaccination against coronavirus.
Speaking at a Downing Street Covid briefing this morning led by deputy chief medical officer Jonathan Van-Tam, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation announced the “phase one” details for vaccinating the UK population against coronavirus.
Professor Wei Shen Lim, chair of the committee, said the first phase of vaccine rollout would “prioritise the most vulnerable individuals in society, specifically people who are most likely to die from severe Covid-19 infection”.
Interim current recommendations place care home residents and care home workers at the top of the priority list, followed by older age groups from 80-plus-year-olds, going down to 60-plus-year-olds, Professor Lim said.
“Then adults with underlying health conditions, then 50-plus-year-olds, going down the age bands.”