Moderna to use Roche antibody test in coronavirus vaccine trials
Roche’s Elecsys Anti-SARS-CoV-2 test US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) emergency use administration in May.
By JERUSALEM POST STAFFRoche Diagnostics immunochemistry analyser(photo credit: Courtesy)Moderna and Roche Diagnostics announced this week that they will partner to include SARS-CoV-2 antibody tests in vaccine trials for the mRNA-1273 vaccine. This will help establish the correlation between vaccine-induced protection and the levels of anti-receptor binding domain (RBD) antibodies.Use of the test will enable those administering to know the base antibody level of participants which will help them evaluate changes to antibody levels induced by vaccination. Use of Roche's antibody test may also help with the assessment of when, or if, individuals need to be vaccinated again, according to Roche.“We are pleased to see that our quantitative Elecsys SARS-CoV-2 S test, which targets the spike protein, is now also being used as part of the Moderna vaccine trials, which could ultimately help to end this pandemic,” said Roshe CEO Thomas Schinecker.Roche’s Elecsys Anti-SARS-CoV-2 test US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) emergency use administration in May.Potential vaccines aim to induce an antibody response in those vaccinated without exposing them to the virus and in doing so train their body's immune system to fight the virus, Roche explained.Moderna, dosed its first participant on Thursday for its Phase 2/3 study of the mRNA-1273 vaccine designed to treat the novel coronavirus.The Phase 2/3 study will examine the safety, reactogenicity and immunogenicity of Moderna's vaccine candidate within adolescents aged 12-17."We are pleased to begin this Phase 2/3 study of mRNA-1273 in healthy adolescents in the US Our goal is to generate data in the spring of 2021 that will support the use of mRNA-1273 in adolescents in advance of the 2021 school year," said Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel.Maayan Jaffe-Hoffman and Zachary Keyser contributed to this report.
