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Drugmaker Moderna said on Monday that the first batch of its vaccine against the coronavirus is ready for the government to start testing on humans.
The therapeutics and vaccines company said it has shipped vials of the medicine, called mRNA-1273, to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) in Bethesda, Maryland. The NIAID expects to begin the clinical trial with 20 to 25 healthy subjects by the end of April to evaluate the vaccine's safety and efficacy against infection, the Wall Street Journal reported. That would mark a three-month period between vaccine design and human testing, with first results becoming available as early as July, according to the report.
"Going into a Phase One trial within three months of getting the sequence is unquestionably the world indoor record. Nothing has ever gone that fast," said Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of NIAID, according to the WSJ.
News of the coming vaccine test sent Moderna's stock price up 19% Tuesday to about $22 a share. Despite that jump, the vaccine's efficacy is unknown. Other drugmakers also are racing to develop vaccines against the coronavirus, including Sanofi, Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Novavax and Johnson & Johnson. Gilead Sciences is also exploring whether one of its existing drugs could work against the disease.
The coronavirus, officially known as COVID-19, has infected more than 80,000 people and killed nearly 3,000.
The therapeutics and vaccines company said it has shipped vials of the medicine, called mRNA-1273, to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) in Bethesda, Maryland. The NIAID expects to begin the clinical trial with 20 to 25 healthy subjects by the end of April to evaluate the vaccine's safety and efficacy against infection, the Wall Street Journal reported. That would mark a three-month period between vaccine design and human testing, with first results becoming available as early as July, according to the report.
"Going into a Phase One trial within three months of getting the sequence is unquestionably the world indoor record. Nothing has ever gone that fast," said Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of NIAID, according to the WSJ.
News of the coming vaccine test sent Moderna's stock price up 19% Tuesday to about $22 a share. Despite that jump, the vaccine's efficacy is unknown. Other drugmakers also are racing to develop vaccines against the coronavirus, including Sanofi, Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Novavax and Johnson & Johnson. Gilead Sciences is also exploring whether one of its existing drugs could work against the disease.
The coronavirus, officially known as COVID-19, has infected more than 80,000 people and killed nearly 3,000.
