Ahead of a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) meeting later this month to discuss updated COVID-19 vaccine strategies, Moderna today announced that its bivalent COVID booster candidate prompted higher antibody response against the Omicron variant than the current version of the company's mRNA vaccine.In other developments, White House officials signaled today that they will shift $10 billion away from some parts of the COVID-19 response to allow the government to buy vaccines and treatments, and the World Health Organization (WHO) said global cases continue to fall, though more transmissible subvariants are gaining a bigger toehold.Vaccine boosts Omicron antibodies 8-foldIn a statement, Moderna said its Omicron-containing bilvalent (two-strain) vaccine met clinical end points, including a better antibody response 1 month after vaccination compared to its original vaccine.
Like the original Moderna booster dose, the dose for the bivalent version was 50 micrograms.The geometric mean titer (GMT), a measure of antibody response, was 2,372 for the bivalent vaccine against Omicron, compared with 1,473 for the original Moderna vaccine.
The newer version boosted GMT against Omicron about eightfold higher than baseline levels.The company said the bivalent vaccine was generally well tolerated, with side effects similar to its current booster dose.
It also said it anticipates that antibody titers induced by the bivalent vaccine will be more durable against Omicron compared to its current booster shot.