CHICAGO: Moderna Inc, on Thursday confirmed it plans to start a trial of 30,000 volunteers of its much-anticipated coronavirus vaccine in July as the company enters the final stage of testing.
The Cambridge, Massachusetts-based biotech said the primary goal of the study would be to prevent symptomatic COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. The key secondary goal would be prevention of severe disease, as defined by keeping people out of the hospital.
The company’s shares jumped 6 percent in premarket trading.
Moderna said it has selected the 100-microgram dose of the vaccine for the late-stage study. At that dose level, the company is on track to deliver about 500 million doses per year, and possibly up to 1 billion doses per year, starting in 2021 from the company’s internal US manufacturing site and strategic collaboration with Swiss drugmaker Lonza .
The company said it chose the 100-microgram dose to maximize the immune response and minimize adverse reactions.
Moderna said it has completed manufacturing of enough vaccines to start the phase 3 trial.
