On Wednesday, October 4, 2023, Moderna Inc., announced through a news release, positive interim results from its early trial of an investigational combination vaccine against strains of flu and COVID-19.
The new shots appear to be safe at this point and are designed to deliver value to individuals, providers and healthcare systems through higher acceptance, easier administration and greater convenience, says Moderna in the news release.
"With today's positive results from our combination vaccine against flu and COVID-19, we continue to expand our Phase 3 pipeline," said Stéphane Bancel, Chief Executive Officer of Moderna in the company’s news release.
"Flu and COVID-19 represent a significant seasonal burden for individuals, providers, healthcare systems and economies. Combination vaccines offer an important opportunity to improve consumer and provider experience, increase compliance with public health recommendations, and deliver value for healthcare systems,” Bancel added.
Moderna’s ongoing Phase 1/2 clinical trial is a randomized (indiscriminate), observer blind study evaluating the safety and effectiveness of its combo flu and COVID-19 vaccine coded as mRNA-1083, compared to a standard dose influenza vaccine in adults 50-64 years of age and against an enhanced influenza vaccine, in adults 65-79 years of age. For both age groups, mRNA-1083 was compared against Spikevax booster.
Influenza epidemics occur seasonally and vary in severity each year, causing respiratory illnesses and placing a substantial burden on healthcare systems, notes Moderna in the news release.
According to Moderna, each year worldwide, influenza leads to 3-5 million cases of severe diseases and 290,000-650,000 influenza-related respiratory deaths annually, despite the availability of current influenza vaccines. Older adults are more affected by influenza and its complications.
Meanwhile, since the start of the pandemic in 2020, the COVID-19 virus remains a leading cause of severe illness and mortality throughout the world with approximately 770 million cases of COVID-19 respiratory illness and approximately seven million deaths reported globally.
COVID-19 is well known to infect people of all ages, but higher rates of severe illness and death are observed among older individuals and individuals with pre-existing medical conditions.
“We are excited to move combination respiratory vaccines into Phase 3 development and look forward to partnering with public health officials to address the significant seasonal threat posed to people by these viruses," said Bancel, Moderna’s CEO, in the new release.
While people will have to settle for getting separate flu and Covid-19 vaccines for now, Moderna hopes to get US federal regulatory approval for its combo respiratory vaccine in 2025.
Source:
Moderna, news release, Oct. 4, 2023
Published: October 6, 2023
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