Moderna says its combined flu and Covid vaccine, which targets the two diseases in a single shot, has passed a vital part of final-stage scientific checks, proving as effective as two separate jabs.
The phase-three trial shows the vaccine arms the body with protective antibodies, reports the BBC, with Moderna Chief Executive Stephane Bancel saying he hoped the messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) vaccine could be made widely available in 2026 – or perhaps even 2025.
“We are delighted about the results, because it’s the first time in the world that a company is able to show positive phase-three results combining in a single dose flu and Covid vaccine,” he said.
Competitors Pfizer and BioNTech are testing a similar two-in-one mRNA vaccine against flu and Covid.
Scientists hope mRNA vaccines will be faster to make and update than the current ones used against flu, and be a better match for ever-changing strains.
In the continuing Moderna trial, the mRNA-1083 jab produced a higher immune response than the licensed comparator vaccines. It also matched or bettered currently approved flu jabs, including high-dose ones designed for older people.
And it was better than Moderna’s existing Covid booster, Spikevax, at making the body produce disease-fighting antibodies – probably because it had been designed to fight more recent variants circulating around the world, Bancel said.
Older people
The results are from 8 000 volunteers, all over 50 and half over 64.
Moderna said it had focused on older people because they were most likely to continue to be offered Covid vaccines, but it plans ultimately to offer the new jab to younger people also.
It said side effects were generally mild – some tenderness where the needle went into the skin and some tiredness, as with regular vaccines.
The company plans to present the findings at a medical conference and submit them for publication.
Moderna is also developing an mRNA vaccine against a disease called cytomegalovirus, for which it hopes to have late-stage trial results later this year.
Currently, there is nothing to protect pregnant women and their unborn babies against the condition, which is considered the only member of the herpes virus family to spread directly from mother to child through the placenta during pregnancy. In people who are immune-compromised, it can affect the eyes, lungs, liver, and other organs, and result in complications for the foetus.
BBC article – Two-in-one flu and Covid jab passes advanced trial (Open access)
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