After Pfizer, Moderna starts trial of Omicron-specific Covid vax

New York : US drug maker Moderna has started trial of a Covid booster vaccine that specifically targets the Omicron variant, the company has announced.This is after Pfizer began an Omicron-specific trial early this week. The company expect to have the shots ready by March.Moderna, in a statement, said that the first participant in the phase two trial has already received a dose of the omicron-specific booster shot.The company expects to enroll about 600 adult participants ages 18 and over split equally between two groups.Participants in the first group will have previously received two-doses of Moderna’s original vaccine, and participants in the second group will have previously received the two-dose vaccine and the currently authorised booster shot.

Participants in both groups will receive a single dose of the omicron specific booster.The US drug maker also announced the publication of neutralising antibody data against the Omicron variant six months following a booster dose in The New England Journal of Medicine.While Omicron neutralisation had declined 6.3-fold from peak titers at day 29 post-boost, levels remained detectable in all participants. Neutralising titers against Omicron declined more rapidly than titers against the ancestral strain of the virus (D614G) which declined 2.3-fold over the same time period, the company said.The company is reassured that the neutralising antibodies against Omicron remain detectable after half a year, said CEO Stephane Bancel, in the statement.”Nonetheless, given the long-term threat demonstrated by Omicron’s immune escape, we are advancing our Omicron-specific variant vaccine booster candidate and we are pleased to begin this part of our Phase 2 study,” said Bancel.Bancel said in early January that Moderna could have data on the Omicron booster ready by March.