Biotech company awarded $483 million to develop coronavirus vaccine
The
Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, known
as BARDA — a division of the US Department of Health and Human Services —
awarded up to $483 million to accelerate development of the
biotechnology firm Moderna’s experimental vaccine against the novel
coronavirus, the company announced in a press release on Thursday.
“Vaccines
are a critical tool for saving lives and stopping the spread of the
SARS-CoV-2 virus,” BARDA Director Rick Bright said in the press release.
“Delivering
a safe and effective vaccine for a rapidly spreading virus requires
accelerated action," Bright said in part. "BARDA’s goal is to have
vaccine available as quickly as possible."
Bright
added that preparing now for "advanced stage clinical trials" and
"production scale-up" while the vaccine candidate is currently in a
phase 1 study could help accelerate the development of vaccines.
Some context:
In late February, Moderna had shipped an experimental coronavirus
vaccine to US government researchers six weeks after it started working
on the immunization. Now a phase 1 study of the vaccine is being
conducted by the National Institutes of Health. The study began on March
16.
“We
are thankful for BARDA’s support to fund the accelerated development of
mRNA-1273, our vaccine candidate against SARS-CoV-2,” Stéphane Bancel,
Moderna's CEO, said in the press release. “Time is of the essence to
provide a vaccine against this pandemic virus. By investing now in our
manufacturing process scale-up to enable large scale production for
pandemic response, we believe that we would be able to supply millions
of doses per month in 2020 and with further investments, tens of
millions per month in 2021, if the vaccine candidate is successful in
the clinic.”
Moderna
is among several companies that are currently testing vaccines, but it
will take months — or more likely at least a year — to complete those
trials.
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