Moderna’s shares rose nearly 6% on Monday after the biotech company announced that it received an additional $ 472 million from the United States government to support the development of its potential coronavirus vaccine.
Additional funding from the Advanced Biomedical Research and Development Authority will support the development of its late-stage Moderna vaccine, including the phase three study, which begins Monday and will include at least 30,000 participants. Moderna received $ 483 million from the federal agency in April.
There are no FDA-approved drugs or vaccines for the coronavirus, which has infected more than 16 million people worldwide and has killed at least 648,900 in less than seven months, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. There are more than 150 vaccines in development, according to the World Health Organization, with 25 vaccines already in human trials.
Moderna shares rose 5.8% to $ 77.43 in mid-morning trading.
In this March 16, 2020 file photo, a subject receives an injection in the first-stage safety study clinical trial of a possible Moderna vaccine for COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, in the Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute in Seattle.
Ted S. Warren | AP
The experimental Moderna vaccine, which is being developed with the help of the National Institutes of Health, contains genetic material called messenger RNA, or mRNA, that scientists hope will cause the immune system to fight the virus.
He became the first candidate to participate in a phase one human trial in March. Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and AstraZeneca, which are also conducting human tests for potential coronavirus vaccines, have previously received funding from BARDA.
The results of the Moderna advanced-stage trial could be released in October, Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel said Monday during an interview on CNBC’s “Squawk Box”. “It is a really optimistic scenario. It could be November. Again, at this stage, it is impossible for us to know precisely. It will depend on the event rate, the attack infection rate.”
The phase three trial will enroll 30,000 participants at 87 locations, according to ClinicalTrials.gov. Participants will receive a 100 microgram dose of the potential vaccine on the first day and another 29 days thereafter. Some patients in the trial will also receive a placebo.
Earlier this month, the biotech company released promising data about the vaccine trial, saying it generated a “robust” immune response. The vaccine candidate produced neutralizing antibodies, which scientists believe is important for developing immunity to the virus, in the 45 patients evaluated in the trial, Moderna scientists reported in the New England Journal of Medicine.
The company said it is on track to deliver between 500 million and 1 billion doses per year starting next year.
.
