Moderna, the pharmaceutical giant, has reported that its combined vaccine for Covid-19 and influenza produced a stronger immune response in adults aged 50 and older compared to separate shots for each virus in a Phase 3 trial. A Phase 3 trial is a late-stage clinical study designed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of a new treatment, drug, or vaccine in a larger population. These trials typically involve a large number of participants, often ranging from several hundred to several thousand.
Using messenger RNA technology, the combined vaccine generated higher antibody levels than those produced by currently marketed traditional flu vaccines and Moderna’s Spikevax mRNA COVID shot.
The vaccine, designated mRNA-1083, elicited a stronger immune response against two A strains and one B strain of the flu in older adults compared to widely used flu shots from GSK and Sanofi. In March, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommended that drugmakers target these three strains—H1N1, H3N2, and B/Victoria—when developing seasonal flu vaccines for 2024.
