Massachusetts-based Moderna’s share price — and the stock market as a whole — were lifted today by the company’s encouraging report about a coronavirus vaccine trial that got its start at Seattle’s Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute.
- In a statement, Moderna said interim results from the Phase 1 clinical trial, which began in mid-March and involved 30 people who received the vaccine known as mRNA-1273, show that the vaccine produced binding antibodies in all recipients and neutralizing antibodies in the first eight recipients for whom data were available. The vaccine was “generally safe and well-tolerated,” with self-resolving adverse effects seen at higher doses, Moderna said.
- Those are promising signs for the RNA-based vaccine’s ability to fight off the virus, but the Phase 1 trial is still too small to be definitive and not meant to judge efficacy. The vaccine is moving into Phase 2 trials under the Food and Drug Administration’s fast-track guidelines, and Phase 3 trials are due to begin in July.
- Moderna is already ramping up vaccine production, and if results from later trials show mRNA-1273 is truly safe and effective, it might go into distribution by early next year. That prospect is what drove Moderna’s share price up nearly 20% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average up more than 900 points during today’s trading session.
Update for 4:40 p.m. PT May 18: We’ve updated this report based on today’s closing market prices.
