Non-Disappearing COVID Creates Another Chapter For The Pharmaceutical Industry

On Tuesday, UK regulators joined their US and European peers in approving an updated COVID-19 vaccine by Pfizer Inc PFE and its German partner BioNTech BNTX that targets only the Omicron XBB.1.5 subvariant. Moderna Inc MRNA and Novavax NVAX have also created the so-called monovalent versions of their shots that target the XBB.1.5 subvariant of the virus. XBB.1.5 was the most dominant variant across the globe earlier this year, which is why it was selected by regulators as the target for the updated version of coronavirus vaccines.Vaccine manufacturers continue to test the updated booster on newer variants, including the latest omicron sub-variant BA.2.86 that is raising concerns of infections across the globe.

While the U.S. expects to deploy all three vaccines in the fall season, the UK plans to deploy the mRNA vaccines that Pfizer and BioNTech, as well as Moderna developed for the autumn immunization campaign.

Pfizer Reported A Strong Antibody Response To The BA.2.86 Subvariant

The newest version of the vaccine that Pfizer and BioTech developed will also be sold under brand Comirnaty. It has been approved for use in individuals aged 6 months and above.

But on Wednesday, Pfizer warned that its updated Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine elicited a strong antibody response in a preclinical study in mice with the highly mutated BA.2.86 subvariant of the coronavirus. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has previously indicated that BA.2.86 may be more capable of causing infection in people who previously had COVID or were previously vaccinated against COVID. 

Moderna Reported Promising Data

On Wednesday, Moderna said clinical trial data showed its updated COVID-19 vaccine will likely be effective against the highly-mutated BA.2.86 subvariant.

Moderna head of infectious diseases, Jacqueline Miller, said the new findings were shared with regulators and submitted for peer review publication. The updated shot Moderna developed has yet to be approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, but is expected to be available by early October, at latest.

While monitoring the variant is important, Reuters reported that several experts claimed that a new wave of severe disease and death is unlikely because immune defenses have been built up across the globe, both from prior infections and mass vaccination. But COVID-19 certainly has not disappeared from our lives and it continues providing a revenue source for pharmaceutical companies. 

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