Moderna Inc. said it shared new data with regulators about its bivalent COVID-19 booster’s antibody response against the BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants as it seeks to update its authorized booster with the new formulation. Moderna’s bivalent booster protects against both omicron and the original strain of the virus. The company said that participants in the study were vaccinated and boosted before receiving a shot of the experimental bivalent booster. Moderna also said the bivalent booster generated protective antibodies against the new subvariants, though not as many as it did against BA.1. “We will submit these data to regulators urgently and are preparing to supply our next generation bivalent booster starting in August, ahead of a potential rise in SARS-CoV-2 infections due to Omicron subvariants in the early fall,” Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel said in a news release. Moderna’s stock is down 48.8% this year, while the broader S&P 500 has declined 21.0%.
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