Moderna Inc will apply for U.S. and European emergency authorization for its COVID-19 vaccine on Monday after full results from a late-stage study showed it was 94.1% effective with no serious safety concerns, the company announced.
Moderna also reported that its vaccine's efficacy rate was consistent across age, race, ethnicity and gender demographics as well as having a 100% success rate in preventing severe cases of a disease that has killed nearly 1.5 million people.
The filing sets Moderna's product up to be the second vaccine likely to receive U.S. emergency use authorization this year following a shot developed by Pfizer and BioNTech which had a 95% efficacy rate.
"We believe that we have a vaccine that is very highly efficacious. We now have the data to prove it," Moderna Chief Medical Officer Tal Zaks said. "We expect to be playing a major part in turning around this pandemic."
Of the 196 people who contracted COVID-19 out of over 30,000 volunteers, 185 had received a placebo and 11 got the vaccine.
Moderna reported 30 severe cases, all in the placebo group, which means the vaccine was 100% effective against severe cases. Moderna shares were up 6.7% at $138.58 in U.S. pre-market trade, a record high and a rise of more than 600% this year.