Moderna Inc’s experimental COVID-19 vaccine, which has been at the forefront of the vaccine development, has produced successfully antibodies in a group of eight individuals.
The biotech company’s data is a result of a safety trial that started in March. The study showed that the vaccine was safe and antibodies against the virus were produced in the participants.
It is the first vaccine to be tested in the United States.
Moderna’s stock prices have risen by 20 per cent since then.
The company plans to sell $1.25 billion in common stock to raise money for vaccine development and manufacturing.
Dr Amesh Adalja of Johns Hopkins Centre for Health Security pointed out that this is Phase 1 clinical trial which is “designed for safety, not for efficacy”. He, however, said the results are encouraging.
Scientists are reportedly trying to find out how much antibodies will help protect from the coronavirus and how long it will last.
Moderna has been given a green light to start the second phase of human testing, which is the mid-stage designed to find test effectiveness and optimal dose. It will be testing a 50 mcg dose and has dropped plans of testing 250 mcg dose.
The 3rd phase is expected to start in July.
The US government in April has backed Moderna’s research with $483 million from the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA).
It is expected to supply millions of doses per month in 2020 going up to tens of millions per month in 2021 if proven successful. Moderna started working on it in January 2020, and it is believed that an effective vaccine could take 12 to 18 months.
