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(Reuters) – Moderna Inc said on Monday it had administered the first participant in a preliminary study of a new COVID-19 vaccine candidate that could potentially be stored and shipped in refrigerators instead of freezers.
The company said its new candidate could facilitate distribution, especially in developing countries where supply chain issues could hamper vaccination campaigns.
The early-stage study will assess the safety and immunogenicity of the next-generation vaccine, referred to as mRNA-1283, at three dose levels, and will be administered to healthy adults as a single dose or in two doses 28 days apart, the company says.
Moderna also plans to evaluate the new vaccine, mRNA-1283, as a potential booster in future studies.
Last week, Moderna began assaying the first participants in a study testing COVID-19 booster vaccine candidates targeting the variant, known as B.1.351, which first appeared in South Africa.
The booster vaccine candidates, designated mRNA-1273.351, will be tested in a trial of both a variant-specific vaccine and a multivalent vaccine, according to the company’s announcement.
Reporting by Manojna Maddipatla and Vishwadha Chander in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber and Anil D’Silva
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