Monitoring Desk
ISLAMABAD/WASHINGTON: US biotech company Moderna on Tuesday announced “positive interim trial results” for its vaccine for treating the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in adults aged 60 and above.
No jabs are currently available for RSV, a leading cause of lower respiratory diseases that commonly lead to pneumonia in the elderly and bronchiolitis in children. However, numerous vaccines and treatments are being developed, most prominently by Pfizer, the maker of Moderna’s rival Covid-19 vaccine.
“In phase three trials, Moderna’s vaccine was effective nearly 84 percent against RSV-linked diseases,” the firm said in a statement.
The vaccine trial involved nearly 37,000 adults over 60 from 22 countries, including the US, and used the new mRNA technology from Moderna’s Covid jab. The company made public the results of an interim analysis that has yet to undergo peer review.
According to the study, there were 55 cases of RSV-associated lower respiratory tract disease in the control group and nine in the vaccine group.
According to the firm, there were no serious adverse effects from immunization. Moderna intends to submit regulatory applications for the vaccine in the US, Europe and other nations in the upcoming months.
RSV caused 5.2 million cases of severe illness in individuals
According to Paul Burton, chief medical officer of Moderna, “the firm also conducts children’s vaccine trials, but they are still in the early stages.” According to Moderna, RSV caused 5.2 million cases of severe illness in individuals above 60 years of age in high-income countries in 2019.
The virus causes up to 30,000 elderly patients to pass away annually in G7 nations, Burton continued. He claimed Moderna’s vaccine’s dosage requirements has not yet been established. The favorable outcomes follow Pfizer’s announcement in December that the US Food and Drug Administration had granted priority review status to its own RSV vaccine for people over 60.
The previous month, Pfizer said another of its RSV vaccines, given to pregnant mothers, was effective at protecting newborns. Also in November, the European Union approved a preventative treatment that works similarly to a vaccine made by AstraZeneca and Sanofi, which has been shown to prevent severe illness from RSV in infants.
When asked about other RSV vaccines developed by Moderna’s rivals, Burton said, “it’s good news.” “The public has gone seven decades with nothing” to fight the virus and soon could have multiple options, he said.
Moderna is also considering whether the RSV jab can be combined with Covid and even influenza vaccines after soaring cases of all three in recent months were dubbed a “tripledemic.”
