Cambridge-based company ships first potential coronavirus vaccine for testing in ‘record speed’
"Nothing has ever gone that fast."
A Cambridge-based biotechnology company has shipped out the first potential coronavirus vaccine for human testing in “record speed,” as the infectious disease begins to spread outside of Asia.
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In a press release Monday night, the drugmaker Moderna announced it had sent vials of the experimental vaccine, mRNA-1273, from its manufacturing plant in Norwood to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) in Bethesda, Maryland for the first phase of clinical trials.
NIAID Director Anthony Fauci told the Wall Street Journal that the institute plans to begin testing by the end of April with around 20 to 25 healthy volunteers to see whether two doses of the shot safely induce an immune reaction that is likely to protect against the infection. According to the Journal, initial results could come in July or August.
Still, the turnaround for the potential vaccine has been remarkably fast; according to NIAID officials, it took 20 months for the first SARS vaccine to reach human testing following that disease’s 2002 outbreak.
“Going into a Phase One trial within three months of getting the sequence is unquestionably the world indoor record,” Fauci told the Journal. “Nothing has ever gone that fast.”
Moderna was one of three companies that received funding from a Norway-based nonprofit, Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), last month to develop a coronavirus vaccine. According to company officials, they delivered the first batch of mRNA-1273 six weeks after discovering the virus’s genetic sequence.
And while it’s still uncertain if Moderna’s vaccine will work, the Kendall Square-based company noted that new platform technology integrated at its Norwood plant has helped accelerate the production of potential vaccines.
“I want to thank the entire Moderna team for their extraordinary effort in responding to this global health emergency with record speed,” Juan Andres, the chief technical operations and quality officer at Moderna, said in a statement.
The coronavirus epidemic originated last month — and remains mostly concentrated — in China. However, hundreds of cases have recently been reported in South Korea, Iran, and Italy. As of Tuesday, the global death toll from the disease reached at least 2,700 out of more than 80,000 overall cases.
American officials are warning residents to be prepared for a likely outbreak in the United States.
“It’s not so much of a question of if this will happen in this country any more but a question of when this will happen,” Dr. Nancy Messonnier, the director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said Tuesday, according to The New York Times.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday that the total number of confirmed cases in the United States has reached 57, including one case in Massachusetts.
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