Moderna Omicron boosters outperform, but with lower response to latest variant
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Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) announced Monday that its COVID-19 boosters updated for Omicron subvariants generated a superior neutralizing antibody response compared to its original vaccine as booster but with a lower neutralizing activity to the emerging BQ.1.1 "escape variant."
According to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), BQ.1.1, along with another emerging Omicron variant called BQ.1, accounted for an estimated 24.1% and 20.1% of cases, respectively compared to 29.7% of BA.5 cases.
The data readout announced today was from a Phase 2/3 study that tested Moderna's (MRNA) BA.4/BA.5 targeting bivalent booster, mRNA-1273.222, against a booster dose of original vaccine mRNA-1273 in 511 previously boosted people (aged 19-89 years).
According to the company, in those with and without COVID-19 infection before booster administration, Omicron BA.4/BA.5 geometric mean titer (GMT) ratios of mRNA-1273.222 versus mRNA-1273 stood at 5.11 and 6.29, respectively.
Meanwhile, a lab-based study indicated that Moderna's (MRNA) bivalent vaccines mRNA-1273.222 and mRNA-1273.214 led to a "robust neutralizing activity" against BQ.1.1 but with a nearly five-fold drop in antibody titers compared to BA.4/BA.5.
The company said that the frequency of adverse events related to mRNA-1273.222 and mRNA-1273.214 shots were similar to or lower than the second and third doses of the original vaccine.
Early this month, COVID-19 vaccine makers Pfizer (PFE) and BioNTech (BNTX) announced data to support the superiority of their newly designed COVID booster shot compared to the original booster.