Moderna cleared the Phase-I of trial for Covid vaccine after which its stock shot up to an all time high, with the market in euphoria over progress in fight against Coronavirus. In the Phase-II of the vaccine trial, Moderna will administer vaccine on 600 patients from 18-55 (300 patients) and 55 years and above (300 patients) age groups. Complete Coverage: Coronavirus
Crux of the Matter
The Vaccine – How It Works? Moderna company was working with the backing of US National Institutes of Health (NIH) under the leadership of Dr. Anthony Fauci. The vaccine for Covid-19 is named mRNA-1273, standing for Messenger Ribonucleic Acid. The Vaccine codes the “spike protein” in the body, which the virus uses to enter and reproduce in the host cell.
Consequently, the body learns about the virus’s design without the injection of the weakened virus in the body and develops the required antibodies to repel the virus.
Vaccine On Trial Phase-I of the trial began on 16 March 2020 with 45 participants. The initial results were positive as subjects developed required antibodies against Covid-19. Participants receiving a high dose developed more antibodies than Covid-19 recovered patients. Importantly, participants receiving low dose developed antibodies equal to the recovered patients of the disease. No major side-effects were noted except chills, fever, and minor redness at the injection site. The vaccine was cleared for the Phase-II trial on 7 May.
Moderna Stocks Shoot Up Moderna signed a deal with Lonza group AG for the production of Covid vaccine. It also received $483 million from US Govt to accelerate the testing and production. Due to the initial trial’s success, Moderna’s stocks shot up by 39% after the announcement. On 18 May, the share price reached an all-time high of $87. After the initial frenzy, the shares dropped to $71.60.
Announcement of positive clinical trial results on 18th May shot Moderna’s stock up by nearly 30%
Meanwhile In Bangladesh More positive news came from Asia, as Bangladesh successfully tested a combination of drugs on Covid-19 patients. The medical team used a combination of Ivermectin (An anti-protozoal drug) and Dioxycyclin (An antibiotic) on 60 Covid patients. According to the reports, all 60 patients, having acute symptoms, recovered with no side-effects.
The repeated or second tests, in line with the procedure, reconfirmed them Covid-19 negative in all the cases under the research which found the combination to have no side effects on patients either. Dr. Md Tarek Alam, Head of Medicine Department, Bangladesh Medical College Hospital (BMCH)
Curiopedia
In 2018, Moderna had the largest biotech initial public offering (IPO) in history, raising $600 million for 8% of its shares, implying an overall valuation of $7.5 billion, and with cumulative losses since inception of $1.5 billion. In May 2020, Moderna was valued at $30 billion.
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