First US Phase III trial for COVID-19 vaccine begins

Enlarge / A research associate works at the Moderna Therapeutics Inc. lab in Cambridge, Massachusetts. (credit: Bloomberg/Getty Images)

Moderna has given the first doses of its experimental COVID-19 vaccine to participants in what will be a 30,000-person trial, as the United States moved into a new phase of the race to develop a vaccine by the start of next year.

The Boston-based biotech said on Monday that it had begun the first Phase III study of a vaccine in the US, a large-scale trial that is usually the last before a new product is submitted for regulatory approval.

The company's shares were up as much as 10.6 percent before paring some of their gains.

Read 11 remaining paragraphs | Comments