Moderna shares surged nearly 6% in premarket trading.
A booster shot of the Moderna coronavirus vaccine significantly raises the level of antibodies that can thwart the Omicron variant.
The first data available for Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine suggests a third booster dose will be effective against omicron, the variant that is rapidly taking over the world.
Moderna said early Monday that in a lab study, blood from 20 people who received the 50-microgram Moderna booster had 37 times the number of neutralizing antibodies as compared to blood from the same number of people who only received two shots.
Moderna had reduced the dose of its booster to half the dose of the original two shots to limit side effects like fever, muscle aches, and fatigue.
A group that received a third shot of the higher, 100-microgram dose saw an 83-fold jump in neutralizing antibodies against omicron.