NEW YORK – American biotech Moderna announced Tuesday that its COVID-19 vaccine produced neutralizing activity against variants of the coronavirus, including Delta, in a laboratory study not yet peer-reviewed.
According to a statement, the vaccine produced antibody titers against all variants tested "in vitro", including Beta, identified in South Africa; the Delta, identified in India, and others identified in Nigeria, Uganda and Angola.
Moderna, which is working on a clinical development strategy to protect against variants, used serum samples from eight participants obtained one week after the second dose in the first phase of the clinical trial of its anticovid vaccine.
The study is a pre-printed document that has been submitted for peer review in the journal BioRxiv , so it is not yet certified.
"As we seek to defeat the pandemic, it is imperative that we be proactive with the evolution of the virus. We remain committed to studying emerging variants, generating data and sharing it as soon as it becomes available," explained Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel.
Bancel said that the data presented is "encouraging" and suggests that the anticovid vaccine that the company has developed "should continue to protect against recently detected variants."
"These findings underscore the importance of continuing to vaccinate populations with an effective primary series of vaccines," he added.
