The U.S. biotech company Modena announced on March 24 that a vaccine candidate developed for the South African variant of Wuhan pneumonia (novel coronavirus disease, COVID-19) has been sent to the National Institutes of health (NIH) for testing and will soon begin clinical trials.
Stephane Bancel, CEO of Modena, announced Wednesday that the newly developed vaccine candidate, mRNA-1273.351, has been sent to the National Institutes of Health and will begin clinical trials involving 100 participants as soon as possible. Based on initial testing, Modena’s previously launched vaccine, mRNA-1273, remains protective against mutant strains of the virus in the United Kingdom and South Africa, but Modena is still pushing for a number of countermeasures, including the development of a vaccine against the mutant virus.
According to reports, the vaccine mRNA-1273.351, which specifically targets the South African variant strain, can be used as an add-on, and the company is also experimenting with combining the new vaccine with the typical vaccine mRNA-1273. Modena is also considering allowing people to receive three doses of the typical vaccine to boost overall immunity.
Bancel said that if clinical trials find any of the new vaccines to be more effective than the one Modena is sending out now, the company will phase out the older versions. But Bancel also added that developing new vaccine products is not the same as stopping people from getting vaccinated now.
In order to accelerate the improvement of vaccines, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced on the 22nd that the development of vaccines specifically for mutated strains will not have to go through the same lengthy authorization process as the previous applications for the original vaccine.
In addition, Modena has also announced an increase in vaccine production, adjusting its 2021 vaccine production plan to increase global production from 600 million to 700 million doses, with up to 1.4 billion doses of vaccine expected to be produced in 2022. To date, Modena has reportedly shipped 60 million doses of vaccine, with 55 million of those doses distributed throughout the United States.
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