CAPE TOWN- Biotech firm Moderna who recently began its Phase 3 trial in pursuit of a coronavirus vaccine says it remains on track to be able to deliver 500 million doses per year, and possibly up to a billion doses per year, beginning in 2021.
The clinical stage biotechnology company announced on Monday that it had begun administering its
mRNA vaccine candidate
in Phase 3 of the study.
The randomized, placebo-controlled trial is expected to include approximately 30,000 participants in the United States (US).
Phase 3 of the study called the COVE (Coronavirus Efficacy) is being conducted in collaboration with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA).
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Moderna says it is able to deliver up to 1 billion doses per year due to the company’s internal manufacturing capabilities in the US and its strategic collaboration with Swiss chemicals and biotechnology company, Lonza.
CEO at Moderna, Stephane Bancel said, “we are pleased to have started the Phase 3 COVE study. We are indebted to the participants and investigators who now begin the work of the COVE study itself. We look forward to this trial demonstrating the potential of our vaccine to prevent Covid-19, so that we can defeat this pandemic,”.
Moderna is one of many companies around the world in the final stages of producing a vaccine. In the US four other large-scale vaccine trials are expected to begin in the coming months.
https://twitter.com/moderna_tx/status/1287703464185864192
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