Covid-19 vaccines move into pivotal development

The start this week of pivotal studies for Moderna and Biontech/Pfizer’s respective mRNA projects will remind investors of the huge numbers of volunteers that companies plan to enrol into Covid-19 vaccine studies. No fewer than 180,000 participants are expected to take part in six such trials by the end of this year. Funding is also in the spotlight: with Moderna’s study of mRNA-1273 beginning yesterday the company also said it secured an additional $472m of Barda funding – in addition to the earlier $483m from US Project Warp Speed – to bridge a “gap” left because of an increased enrolment target. Followers of Biontech/Pfizer’s BNT162 project will note that it is BNT162b2 that has gone into phase III, not BNT162b1, which had generated promising clinical data last week. The b2 variant codes for the full S-protein rather than the receptor-binding domain, which is the case for b1. Biontech says b2 has shown better tolerability than b1 while generating similar neutralising antibody titres. The group yesterday closed a $512m US secondary equity offering, but it will not go unnoticed that its project has received no US taxpayer funding.