Roche Uses Antibody Test in Moderna’s COVID-19 Vaccine Clinical Studies

Roche and Moderna have entered into a partnership that could have an impact on vaccine research trials.

The agreement will have Basel, Italy-based Roche providing its Elecsys Anti-SARS-CoV-2 S antibody test to be used in Moderna’s mRNA-1273 vaccine clinical studies.

The use of the test will help provide a quantitative measurement of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies and help to establish a correlation between vaccine-induced protection and levels of anti-receptor binding domain (RBD) antibodies.

Moderna said its vaccine triggers antibody response specifically to the RBD of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein. 

“Roche values the collaboration with Moderna, which has already included the successful use of our qualitative Elecsys Anti-SARS-CoV-2 test, targeting the nucleocapsid protein, in an earlier part of the studies”, Thomas Schinecker, CEO Roche Diagnostics, said in a release. “We are pleased to see that our quantitative Elecsys SARS-CoV-2 S test, which targets the spike protein, is now also being used as part of the Moderna vaccine trials, which could ultimately help to end this pandemic.”

Roche was initially granted emergency use authorization of an antibody test in May. The company said it was granted EU for the Elecsys Ab test November 25.

Earlier this year, Roche won EUA for the cobas SARS-COV-2 test in record time - receiving the designation about 24 hours after turning in its application to FDA.

Roche and Moderna’s partnership announcement come at the same time the U.S. is beginning to roll out Pfizer’s BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine. The first shots of the vaccine were administered to healthcare workers in the field on Monday, according to a report from The New York Times.