Moderna's coronavirus vaccine Phase III trial will start in July 2020

On Thursday, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases revealed that the Biotech company Moderna will begin the Phase III trial of Moderna's coronavirus vaccine with at least 30,000 volunteers. If the result of this phase is positive, the vaccine would be declared safe and effective for the treatment of COVID-19. Dr. Fauci also revealed that the results of the phase-III trial would be available by November or December this year. Dr. Fauci added that by December, the company would have produced up to 100 million doses of the vaccine

The trial is being carried out by Biotech company Moderna in conjunction with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health. In the trial, the vaccine, known as mRNA-1273, will be given in the 100 microgram dose level. 

The company revealed that at the 100 microgram dose, it will be able to deliver 500 million per year and increase it to 1 billion the next year. For the production of the drug Biotech company Moderna is working with Swiss drugmaker Lonza. 

In a statement on Thursday, the Chief Medical Officer at Moderna, Tal Zaks, M.D., Ph.D., said “We look forward to beginning our Phase 3 study of mRNA-1273 with some 30,000 participants in July. We are committed to advancing the clinical development of mRNA-1273 as safely and quickly as possible to demonstrate our vaccine’s ability to significantly reduce the risk of COVID-19 disease.”

We would all recall that, in early May, following the positive result of the phase I trial, the phase II test is was carried out. In mid-May, the FDA granted mRNA-1273 a fast-track designation to accelerate the development of an effective COVID-19 vaccine

The primary goal of the Phase III trial is to prevent symptomatic COVID-19. The secondary goals include preventing the infection of SARS-CoV-2, the virus directly responsible for COVID-19, and also prevent severe COVID-19.

However, despite still being studied, the two positive results from the Phase I and Phase II trials have made the drug developed by the biotech company to get some praise from medical associations.

As of Thursday morning, there are more than 7.4 million coronavirus patients in the world, with above 2 million in the USA. Also, there is currently no scientific cure for the virus. All discoveries are undergoing a series of tests.

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