Moderna’s COVID-19 Vaccine Candidate Meets its Primary Efficacy Endpoint in the First Interim Analysis of the Phase 3 COVE Study.
The first interim analysis included 95 participants with confirmed cases of
COVID-19
Phase 3 study met statistical criteria
with a vaccine efficacy of 94.5% (p <0.0001)
Moderna intends to submit for an Emergency Use Authorization
(EUA) with U.S. FDA
in the coming weeks and expects the EUA to be based on the final analysis of
151 cases and a median follow-up of more than 2 months.
CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 16, 2020-- Moderna,
Inc. (Nasdaq: MRNA), a biotechnology
company pioneering messenger RNA (mRNA) therapeutics and vaccines to create a new generation of transformative medicines for patients, today announced that
the independent, NIH-appointed
Data Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB) for the Phase 3 study of mRNA-1273, its
vaccine candidate against COVID-19, has informed Moderna that
the trial has met the statistical criteria pre-specified in the study protocol
for efficacy, with a vaccine efficacy of 94.5%. This study, known as the COVE study enrolled more than 30,000 participants in the U.S. and
is being conducted in collaboration with the National
Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National
Institutes of Health (NIH), and the Biomedical
Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), part of the Office
of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response in the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services.
The primary endpoint of the Phase 3 COVE study is
based on the analysis of COVID-19 cases confirmed and adjudicated starting two
weeks following the second dose of vaccine. This first interim analysis was
based on 95 cases, of which 90 cases of COVID-19 were observed in the placebo
group versus 5 cases observed in the mRNA-1273 group, resulting in a point
estimate of vaccine efficacy of 94.5% (p <0.0001).
A secondary endpoint analyzed severe cases of COVID-19
and included 11 severe cases (as defined in the study protocol) in this first interim analysis. All 11 cases occurred in the placebo
group and none in the mRNA-1273 vaccinated group.
The 95 COVID-19 cases included 15 older adults (ages
65+) and 20 participants identifying as being from diverse communities
(including 12 Hispanic or LatinX, 4 Black or African Americans, 3 Asian
Americans and 1 multiracial).
The interim analysis included a concurrent review of
the available Phase 3 COVE study safety data by the DSMB,
which did not report any significant safety concerns. A review of solicited
adverse events indicated that the vaccine was generally well tolerated. The
majority of adverse events were mild or moderate in severity. Grade 3 (severe)
events greater than or equal to 2% in frequency after the first dose included
injection site pain (2.7%), and after the second dose included fatigue (9.7%),
myalgia (8.9%), arthralgia (5.2%), headache (4.5%), pain (4.1%) and
erythema/redness at the injection site (2.0%). These solicited adverse events
were generally short-lived. These data are subject to change based on ongoing
analysis of further Phase 3 COVE study data and final analysis.
Preliminary analysis suggests a broadly consistent
safety and efficacy profile across all evaluated subgroups.
As more cases accrue leading up to the final analysis,
the Company expects the point estimate for vaccine efficacy may change. The
Company plans to submit data from the full Phase 3 COVE study to a
peer-reviewed publication.
“This is a pivotal moment in the development of our
COVID-19 vaccine candidate. Since early January, we have chased this virus with
the intent to protect as many people around the world as possible. All along,
we have known that each day matters. This positive interim analysis from our
Phase 3 study has given us the first clinical validation that our vaccine can
prevent COVID-19 disease, including severe disease,” said Stéphane
Bancel, Chief Executive Officer of Moderna.
“This milestone is only possible because of the hard work and sacrifices of so
many. I want to thank the thousands of participants in our Phase 1, Phase 2 and
Phase 3 studies, and the staff at our clinical trial sites who have been on the
front lines of the fight against the virus.
They are an inspiration to us all. I want to thank the NIH,
particularly NIAID, for their scientific leadership including through years of
foundational research on potential pandemic threats at the Vaccine
Research Center that led to the discovery of the best way to make
Spike protein antigens that are being used in our vaccine and others’. I want
to thank our partners at BARDA and Operation Warp Speed who has been
instrumental in accelerating our progress to this point. Finally, I want to
thank the Moderna team,
our suppliers and our partners, for their tireless work across research,
development and manufacturing of the vaccine. We look forward to the next
milestones of submitting for a EUA in the U.S.,
and regulatory filings in countries around the world, while we continue to
collect data on the safety and efficacy of the vaccine in the COVE study. We
remain committed to and focused on doing our part to help end the COVID-19
pandemic.”
Based on these interim safety and efficacy data, Moderna intends
to submit for an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) with the U.S.
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the coming weeks and
anticipates having the EUA informed by the final safety and efficacy data (with
a median duration of at least 2 months). Moderna also
plans to submit applications for authorizations to global regulatory agencies.
Moderna is working with the U.S.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC),
Operation Warp Speed and McKesson (NYSE:
MCK), a COVID-19 vaccine distributor contracted by the U.S. government,
as well as global stakeholders to be prepared for the distribution of mRNA-1273, in
the event that it receives a EUA and similar global authorizations. By the end
of 2020, the Company expects to have approximately 20 million doses of
mRNA-1273 ready to ship in the U.S. The The company remains on track to manufacture 500 million to 1 billion
doses globally in 2021. On November
10, the American
Medical Association (AMA) issued a Current Procedural Terminology
(CPT) code to report vaccination with mRNA-1273
(code: 91301). Moderna recently announced further progress towards ensuring the distribution, storage, and
handling of the vaccine can be done using existing infrastructure.
To learn more about Moderna’s work on mRNA-1273, visit www.modernatx.com/COVID19.
About the
Phase 3 COVE Study
The Phase 3 COVE trial is a randomized, 1:1
placebo-controlled study testing mRNA-1273 at the 100 µg dose level in 30,000
participants in the U.S.,
ages 18 and older. The primary endpoint is the prevention of symptomatic
COVID-19 disease. Key secondary endpoints include prevention of severe COVID-19
disease and prevention of infection by SARS-CoV-2. The trial will continue to
accrue additional data relevant to safety and efficacy even after a EUA is
submitted. The final estimates of vaccine efficacy for both primary and
secondary endpoints will depend on the totality of data that will accumulate to
inform the final analysis. Moderna worked
closely with BARDA and the NIH,
including NIAID’s COVID-19 Prevention Network
(CoVPN), to conduct the Phase 3 COVE study under
Operation Warp Speed. Moderna’s partner PPD (Nasdaq: PPD), a leading global contract research organization providing
comprehensive, integrated drug development, laboratory, and lifecycle management
services, has also been essential to the successful execution of the COVE
study.
The Phase 3 COVE study was designed in collaboration
with the FDA and NIH to
evaluate Americans at risk of severe COVID-19 disease and completed enrollment of 30,000 participants ages 18 and older in the U.S. on October
22, including those at high risk of the severe complications of
COVID-19 disease. The COVE study includes more than 7,000 Americans over the
age of 65. It also includes more than 5,000 Americans who are under the age of
65 but have high-risk chronic diseases that put them at increased risk of
severe COVID-19, such as diabetes, severe obesity, and cardiac disease. These
medically high-risk groups represent 42% of the total participants in the Phase
3 COVE study. The study also included communities that have historically been
under-represented in clinical research and have been disproportionately
impacted by COVID-19. The study includes more than 11,000 participants from
communities of color, representing 37% of the study population, which is
similar to the diversity of the U.S. at
large. This includes more than 6,000 participants who identify as Hispanic or
LatinX, and more than 3,000 participants who identify as Black or African
American.
About
mRNA-1273
mRNA-1273 is an mRNA vaccine against COVID-19 encoding
for a prefusion stabilized form of the Spike (S) protein, which was co-developed by Moderna and
investigators from NIAID’s Vaccine
Research Center. The first clinical batch, which was funded by the Coalition
for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, was completed on February
7, 2020 and underwent analytical testing; it was shipped to the NIH on February
24, 42 days from sequence selection. The first participant in the
NIAID-led Phase 1 study of mRNA-1273 was dosed on March
16, 63 days from sequence selection to Phase 1 study dosing. On May
12, the FDA granted mRNA-1273 Fast Track designation. On May
29, the first participants in each age cohort: adults ages 18-55 years
(n=300) and older adults ages 55 years and above (n=300) were dosed in the
Phase 2 study of mRNA-1273. On July
8, the Phase 2 study completed enrollment.
Results from the second interim analysis of the NIH-led
Phase 1 study of mRNA-1273 in the 56-70 and 71+ age groups was published on September 29 in The
New England Journal of Medicine. On July
28, results from a non-human primate preclinical viral challenge study
evaluating mRNA-1273 were published in The
New England Journal of Medicine. On July
14, an interim analysis of the original cohorts in the NIH-led
Phase 1 study of mRNA-1273 was published in The
New England Journal of Medicine. mRNA-1273 currently is not approved
for use by any regulatory body.
BARDA is supporting the continued research and
development of mRNA-1273 with $955
million in federal funding under Contract no. 75A50120C00034.
BARDA is reimbursing Moderna for
100 percent of the allowable costs incurred by the Company for conducting the
program described in the BARDA contract. The U.S. government
has agreed to provide up to $1.525
billion to purchase a supply of mRNA-1273 under the U.S.
Department of Defense Contract No. W911QY-20-C-0100.
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