Moderna to apply for US & European emergency authorization as Covid-19 vaccine shows 94% efficacy in final analysis

30 Nov, 2020 13:51

Biotech company Moderna has said it will submit its Covid-19 vaccine candidate for emergency approval in the US and Europe after stage three trials concluded with positive results.

In a statement released on Monday, Moderna said that its vaccine has proven to be extremely effective against Covid-19. 

According to the firm, final analysis from the trial shows their jab was 94.1 percent effective in stopping Covid-19 infections. 

“Today’s primary analysis was based on 196 cases, of which 185 cases of COVID-19 were observed in the placebo group versus 11 cases observed in the mRNA-1273 group, resulting in a point estimate of vaccine efficacy of 94.1%,” the Moderna statement read. 

Furthermore, no trial participants succumbed to a severe Covid infection, leading researchers to say the vaccine is 100 percent effective in preventing severe forms of the disease. 

Moderna added that there were no serious safety concerns identified to date and that the vaccine named mRNA-1273 was “generally well tolerated.” 

“We believe that our vaccine will provide a new and powerful tool that may change the course of this pandemic and help prevent severe disease, hospitalizations and death,” said Stéphane Bancel, chief executive officer of Moderna. 

Following the positive trial results, the firm stated that it planned to immediately request an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and conditional approval from the European Medicines Agency (EMA). 

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Moderna’s vaccine is one of four global frontrunners in the race for a safe and effective vaccine.

Russia's pioneering ‘Sputnik V’ candidate has reported 95 percent efficacy in early trials, while Pfizer and BioNTech's effort proved to be 95 percent effective in already concluded stage three trials. 

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