Moderna says COVID-19 vaccine candidate is 94.5% effective

Moderna Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA) announced its COVID-19 vaccine candidate is effective in preventing the disease 94.5% of the times. Interim data from the late-stage clinical trial were assessed by an independent safety monitoring board that confirmed the jab met the statistical goals of the study. The COVE study enrolled over 30,000 participants in the US and is still ongoing. The current results were based on 95 cases, of which 90 cases of COVID-19 were observed in the group that received the placebo compared to five cases observed in the group that was administered the candidate, called mRNA-1273. The 95 COVID-19 cases included 15 adults aged over 65 and 20 participants identifying as being from diverse communities. “We look forward to the next milestones of submitting for an EUA in the US, 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,” said Stéphane Bancel, Moderna’s chief executive. On Monday, the European Medicines Agency announced it has started a rolling review of the formulation, which will continue until enough evidence is available to support a formal marketing authorisation application. The news comes a week after Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) and BioNTech (NASDAQ:BNTX) revealed their candidate is 90% effective, followed by the Russian authorities flagging the Sputnik V jab reaches 92%. Also on Monday, Health Secretary Matt Hancock told the BBC the government is working "very hard" with Pfizer to begin the rollout of its vaccine by the first week of December. "We'll be ready from the first of December... but more likely is that we may be able to start rolling it out before Christmas," he said. The markets spiked as soon as the news came out, with the FTSE 100 rising 1% to 6,432, while Moderna shot up 14% to US$101.95 in premarket trading. --Adds Matt Hancock quote--