Moderna, the Massachussets-based biotechnology company has sent a prototype vaccine for COVID-19 for human testing. The company said that the first batch of the vaccines was sent to the US government researchers on Monday.
The experimental vaccine is called mRNA-1273, and is based on therapies for messenger RNA. Messenger RNA is the name given to the protein-coding RNA molecules in living cells.
Researchers at the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases will test the vaccine in late April in 25 healthy volunteers, the company said in a press release. Possible initial clinical results by July or August.
The vaccine’s rapid development has been deemed record breaking so far.
However, mRNA vaccines were never tested on humans before and it is uncertain how well the new coronavirus vaccine from Moderna will perform. Even if the trial is successful, the new vaccine will not be available for distribution until the following year.
Although the vaccine from Moderna is new, other companies have been successful in using drugs designed for similar disease conditions.
According to the World Health Organization, remdesivir from Gilead Sciences, an Ebola drug, was effective in helping to reduce the COVID-19 symptoms.
In a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind study, 761 patients undergo clinical trials of Remdesivir in hospitals in Wuhan.
The results of the trials are expected to be available soon.
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