The HIV one is interesting, I wonder what strategy they will use with that?
Moderna is announcing three new vaccine programs
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Re: Moderna is announcing three new vaccine programs
#42I am curious how a trial for the HIV vaccine will proceed in a world where PrEP is available.
I didn't know about PrEP, but from what I've just read it has to be taken daily in order to be effective. A vaccine could be a safer method.
I agree it would be better in the end after it’s approved. I’m thinking about getting the ethics board to allow a trial where you have to give half of the participants a control (and the other half a possibly-ineffective vaccine), when a known-good alternative exists.
The other reply has a solid point. Maybe you can find a country where it’s not possible to distribute daily PrEP, but is possible to vaccinate people and then test them for HIV monthly.
Re: Moderna is announcing three new vaccine programs
#43Really good news! Hopefully these get approved relatively quickly. I'm most excited about the seasonal flu vaccine. That could be a major game changer.
Why? Does elderberry not work for you? Some anecdata: I had the flu NUMEROUS times as a child/young adult. I know what the flu feels like. A couple of years ago, I got the flu (no, I didn't go to the doctor because I knew it was 'just' the flu). I was feeling crummy one day, and the next I was curled up in bed, unable to move, fever with body aches, and slept most of that day. My wife told me about elderberry and gav…
You didn't know whether it was just the flu. You don't know what your results would be otherwise. Don't give advice based on n=1 where you don't even know the disease.
You can have flu you barely notice as well as common cold that keeps you semi-conscious for a couple of days. Unless you get swabbed, you just can't know.
Re: Moderna is announcing three new vaccine programs
#44I am curious how a trial for the HIV vaccine will proceed in a world where PrEP is available.
I can see it going full steam ahead, myself, for a few reasons: 1) Do both, for additional safety. 2) PrEP has changed formulations, and may change again. This implies that the previous formulations were not completely optimal. 3) From what I understand, PrEP can be expensive, although your insurance may cover it. You can also get it overseas for much less but many are not comfortable with that. 4) It's a lifetime ex…
The problem with “do both”: if you give your control group PrEP, then you won’t be able to get data to support the vaccine’s efficacy. A trial requires enough infections in the control group to show the vaccine is better.
Re: Moderna is announcing three new vaccine programs
#45Earlier quoted context omitted.
I can see it going full steam ahead, myself, for a few reasons: 1) Do both, for additional safety. 2) PrEP has changed formulations, and may change again. This implies that the previous formulations were not completely optimal. 3) From what I understand, PrEP can be expensive, although your insurance may cover it. You can also get it overseas for much less but many are not comfortable with that. 4) It's a lifetime ex…
The problem with “do both”: if you give your control group PrEP, then you won’t be able to get data to support the vaccine’s efficacy. A trial requires enough infections in the control group to show the vaccine is better.
That's only a problem for the studies. I'm talking about after the studies. I can see a lot of at-risk people saying "Yeah, I'll do both."
I was joking to my doctor that when I get access to the COVID vaccines, I plan on Moderna in one arm and Pfizer in the other.
Re: Moderna is announcing three new vaccine programs
#46I am curious how a trial for the HIV vaccine will proceed in a world where PrEP is available.
There's a lot of places in the world that have not approved PrEP. And just like a birth control pill, it has to be taken daily -- and that is something that is hard for a lot of people to do consistently. Even in the West, isn't it really expensive?
The sticker price is very high but nobody pays it. It’s free even if you are uninsured, and if you are insured Gilead will reimburse you for any copay.
I think the production cost is not that much, so the high price is just a means of extracting profit from the insurance programs.
Re: Moderna is announcing three new vaccine programs
#47Earlier quoted context omitted.
We already have a Lyme disease vaccine. However, the manufacturer refuses to sell it for human use due to PR threats from conspiracy theorists. Unfortunately, creating vaccines is only half the battle. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2870557/
It's very odd that dogs can get vaccinated for Lyme but not humans...
We can also have dogs "put to sleep" but not people. You can also keep a dog on a leash. If a dog dies, there's no need for a coroner's report. It's not _that_ odd that human and dog medicine are held to different levels of testing and safety.
Re: Moderna is announcing three new vaccine programs
#48The HIV one is interesting, I wonder what strategy they will use with that?
Some more detail in this article from July, they’re using mRNA to make the body produce virus like particles
https://www.aidsmap.com/news/jul-2020/novel-vaccine-induces-...
Re: Moderna is announcing three new vaccine programs
#49Would it be easier to cover more flu strains with an mRNA vaccine? Could we shove like 100 in there?
There is a Netflix documentary called Pandemic about couple that is trying to eradicate flu. They found vaccine that works on all flu viruses but it takes 6 shots to work. That’s not practical at all therefore it’s not on the market yet.
There are a number of weird diseases that some suspect are side effects of flu infections. It may be that we have to prove a causal link to one or more of those before an elaborate flu vaccine is seen as worth the trouble.
Re: Moderna is announcing three new vaccine programs
#50Would it be easier to cover more flu strains with an mRNA vaccine? Could we shove like 100 in there?
There’s a (non-mRNA afaik) universal flu vaccine by the NIH in phase 1 since April 2019: https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/nih-begins-fir...