A US Company, Moderna announced on Tuesday the completion of its phase 1 human trial of coronavirus vaccine
The experimental vaccine for COVID-19 showed it was safe and provoked immune responses in all 45 healthy volunteers in an ongoing early-stage study, U.S. researchers said.
Moderna’s shot, mRNA-1273, uses ribonucleic acid (RNA) – a chemical messenger that contains instructions for making proteins. When injected into people, the vaccine instructs cells to make proteins that mimic the outer surface of the coronavirus, which the body recognizes as a foreign invader and mounts an immune response against.
More than half of the trial volunteers had mild reactions like fatigue, chills, headaches, and aches at the injection site.
The US federal government is supporting Moderna’s vaccine with nearly half a billion dollars and has chosen it as one of the first to enter large-scale human trials.
Massachusetts-based Moderna, considered as the leading vaccine prototype in the US, was the first to enter human trials and has never had a licensed product.
If the next phase of testing in more people goes well, the company will be on track to make 500 million a year, with the goal of 1 billion by the end of 2021, with strategic collaboration with Swiss drugmaker Lonza.
AGA+ Reuters
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