HHS Gives Moderna Up to $438 Million to Develop COVID-19 Vaccine

HHS has committed up to $483 million to Moderna for further development of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate.

Under the agreement, the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority will fund the company’s investigational vaccine  mRNA-1273, including late-stage clinical development and the scaling up of manufacturing.

Moderna’s vaccine candidate is currently in phase 1 clinical trials conducted by the National Institutes of Health. The company plans to begin phase 2 trials in the second quarter of this year, and hopes to initiate a phase 3 trial in the fall.