Moderna's updated COVID-19 vaccine impactful against highly-mutated strain

US biotech Moderna (Nasdaq: MRNA) has announced that clinical trial data from its research assay confirm its updated COVID-19 vaccine - which is pending approval by the US Food and Drug Administration for the fall 2023 vaccination season - generates an 8.7-fold increase in neutralizing antibodies in humans against BA.2.86 (Pirola), a variant under monitoring.

Moderna has stressed that the US Centers for Disease Control has indicated that the highly-mutated BA.2.86 variant may be more capable of causing infection among those who have previously had COVID-19 or were given prior vaccines, noting that updated jabs may be effective in reducing severe disease and hospitalization.

With governments accelerating the timing of COVID-19 vaccination campaigns due to the potential risk of BA.2.86, the mRNA specialist - which has earned tens of billions through sales of its Spikevax vaccine initially developed three years ago to protect against the virus - has shared this data with regulators and says that it is ready to supply its updated vaccine pending regulatory approval.