Moderna Inc. announced this week that it has become the first pharma company with a coronavirus vaccine ready for human trials.
The drugmaker said it has sent a shipment of the vaccines to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), who will help set up the human tests by the end of April on 20-25 healthy individuals. Even if the initial trials show that the vaccine is safe, the vaccine will require further testing and would likely not be ready for distribution until next year.
Still, Moderna’s success marks the quickest turnaround ever by a pharma company in response to a global viral outbreak.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the vaccine was co-developed with NIAID and about 100 manufacturing and quality-control employees at Moderna, many of which who often worked around the clock. Moderna developed the vaccine using platform technology and genetic sequencing information about the novel coronavirus, COVID-19, which was released in January.
If the first trial with NIAID hits the mark, the vaccine will then be tested more in the U.S. and possibly China to see if it reduces infection rates.
Read the full Wall Street Journal report.
