Moderna Inc. organized a brief conference to defend the safety of its COVID-19 shot from a barrage of questions about cardiovascular risks in young people.
Chief Medical Officer Paul Burton acknowledged on the call that the company’s COVID-19 vaccine appears to be linked to an increased likelihood of an inflammatory heart condition known as myocarditis in young men. Moderna says the vaccine’s benefits outweigh the extremely rare risk of myocarditis, it said Thursday.
Sweden and Denmark have halted the use of the Moderna shot in young people because they monitor the risk of heart inflammation, while Germany endorsed the vaccine from Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE, citing potential side effects in young and pregnant people. has done. Moderna lags behind those main rivals in booster shots and approval for use in children.
Compared to the Pfizer-BioEntech vaccine, Moderna’s shot has resulted in only 10 additional cases of myocarditis per 100,000 vaccinations in men aged 12 to 29, Burton said. The occurrence of side effects in men suggests that the hormone testosterone may be important, he said. The CMO answered only a few questions before the call ended.
Moderna’s market value has taken a hit as health officials cite concerns about the vaccine’s potential cardiovascular risk. Shares of the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based biotech are down 34% this month as of the end of Wednesday. He had gained up to 0.9% as of 9:32 a.m. in New York.
The US Food and Drug Administration needs additional time to assess Moderna’s emergency request to approve the vaccine in adolescents 12 to 17 years of age as it examines the rare risk of myocarditis. The regulatory review may not be completed until January.
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