3 ms·

> The disappointing efficacy of the shot known as CVnCoV emerged from an interim analysis based on 134 COVID-19 cases in the study with about 40,000 volunteers

> The disappointing efficacy of the shot known as CVnCoV emerged from an interim analysis based on 134 COVID-19 cases in the study with about 40,000 volunteers in Europe and Latin America. The number of people who had Covid-19 cases seem surprisingly low and there were at least 13 variants amongst 124 cases. The real challenge though lies in the interpretation : is the efficacy due to variants or due to vaccine's inability? https://www.curevac.com/en/2021/06/16/curevac-provides-update-on-phase-2b-3-trial-of-first-generation-covid-19-vaccine-candidate-cvncov/ https://www.curevac.com/en/2021/06/16/curevac-provides-updat...

rurban 5y ago
This question is answered in the press release. The new variants don't explain this low number alone. The manufacturer tried to explain that away, that 41% is still extremely good, compared to other vaccines. Nobody followed him there
akiselev 5y ago
Doesn't matter as much, now that there are other vaccines on the market. Any new vaccine candidates will be compared against the existing ones as a golden standard and any candidate that doesn't improve on the existing options significantly along some dimension is not likely to get approved. The desperate scramble to reopen the world led to record development and approval times BY A FREAKING MILE. HN discourages caps but it's hard to overstate just how unprecedented these approvals were. The top 10 list of fastest drug approvals is just a list of chemotherapy drugs and the median time for novel vaccine discovery lies somewhere between decades and centuries. Now that the world is returning to normal, the standards for premarketing approval are too.
- tinus_hn 5y ago
  It matters a lot because for the ‘gold standard’ existing ones the scare story is they aren’t effective against the variants either.
- tchalla 5y ago
  > Any new vaccine candidates will be compared against the existing ones as a golden standard But, this clinical trial didn't compare to existing ones.
  - scraptor 5y ago
    The results of the trial will be, just like we are doing right now
refurb 5y ago
My counter to that question is - does it matter? This is basically a real world test of the vaccine. If it failed to meet it's endpoint for either reason, it's not a suitable vaccine.
- makomk 5y ago
  All the existing, currently approved vaccines weren't tested in the current real world in this way - their clinical trials were done in an environment that mostly predated the modern variants, which is where the numbers for them in the article come from. We know they're less effective against the variants but don't know how well they'd do in a present-day clinical trial like this one.
- MattPalmer1086 5y ago
  I guess it might matter for understanding why it doesn't perform as well, which is a legitimate question to answer that may help guide future vaccine development.
- tchalla 5y ago
  Yes, it does. The other vaccines weren't tested on "real world" either. Therefore, a comparison to the "standard of care" (other vaccines) instead of control.
  - refurb 5y ago
    But they are producing follow up data for new variants. They are still effective against new variants. So test new vaccines as the Curevac was tested. If it fails we have all the info we need for that vaccine. https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/coronavirus/vaccines-effective-at-preventing-hospitalization-from-delta-variant-studies-suggest-1.5470525 https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/coronavirus/vaccines-effective...

rurban 5y ago

This question is answered in the press release. The new variants don't explain this low number alone. The manufacturer tried to explain that away, that 41% is still extremely good, compared to other vaccines. Nobody followed him there

akiselev 5y ago

Doesn't matter as much, now that there are other vaccines on the market. Any new vaccine candidates will be compared against the existing ones as a golden standard and any candidate that doesn't improve on the existing options significantly along some dimension is not likely to get approved. The desperate scramble to reopen the world led to record development and approval times BY A FREAKING MILE. HN discourages caps but it's hard to overstate just how unprecedented these approvals were. The top 10 list of fastest drug approvals is just a list of chemotherapy drugs and the median time for novel vaccine discovery lies somewhere between decades and centuries. Now that the world is returning to normal, the standards for premarketing approval are too.

tinus_hn 5y ago
It matters a lot because for the ‘gold standard’ existing ones the scare story is they aren’t effective against the variants either.
tchalla 5y ago
> Any new vaccine candidates will be compared against the existing ones as a golden standard But, this clinical trial didn't compare to existing ones.
- scraptor 5y ago
  The results of the trial will be, just like we are doing right now

refurb 5y ago

My counter to that question is - does it matter? This is basically a real world test of the vaccine. If it failed to meet it's endpoint for either reason, it's not a suitable vaccine.

makomk 5y ago
All the existing, currently approved vaccines weren't tested in the current real world in this way - their clinical trials were done in an environment that mostly predated the modern variants, which is where the numbers for them in the article come from. We know they're less effective against the variants but don't know how well they'd do in a present-day clinical trial like this one.
MattPalmer1086 5y ago
I guess it might matter for understanding why it doesn't perform as well, which is a legitimate question to answer that may help guide future vaccine development.
tchalla 5y ago
Yes, it does. The other vaccines weren't tested on "real world" either. Therefore, a comparison to the "standard of care" (other vaccines) instead of control.
- refurb 5y ago
  But they are producing follow up data for new variants. They are still effective against new variants. So test new vaccines as the Curevac was tested. If it fails we have all the info we need for that vaccine. https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/coronavirus/vaccines-effective-at-preventing-hospitalization-from-delta-variant-studies-suggest-1.5470525 https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/coronavirus/vaccines-effective...