Biotech company Moderna put out a press release today saying that the initial Phase I results for a small study of 45 volunteers found that their experimental vaccine had minor side effects and elicited an immune response in participants. On the efficacy side of the table, they found that:
“…Dose dependent increases in immunogenicity were seen across the three dose levels, and between prime and boost within the 25 µg and 100 µg dose levels. All participants ages 18-55 (n=15 per cohort) across all three dose levels seroconverted by day 15 after a single dose. At day 43, two weeks following the second dose, at the 25 µg dose level (n=15), levels of binding antibodies were at the levels seen in convalescent sera (blood samples from people who have recovered from COVID-19) tested in the same assay. At day 43, at the 100 µg dose level (n=10), levels of binding antibodies significantly exceeded the levels seen in convalescent sera. Samples are not yet available for remaining participants.”
“At this time, neutralizing antibody data are available only for the first four participants in each of the 25 µg and 100 µg dose level cohorts. Consistent with the binding antibody data, mRNA-1273 vaccination elicited neutralizing antibodies in all eight of these participants, as measured by plaque reduction neutralization (PRNT) assays against live SARS-CoV-2. The levels of neutralizing antibodies at day 43 were at or above levels generally seen in convalescent sera.”
In other words… among the small number of participants (n=12) for which data are available, there was an immune response that may be immunogenic (works).
So, the DOW stock market index went up 700 points in early trading because of this news (traders say). Seems like a pretty tenuous reason for such a rally (on an n of 12!).
