What To Expect As Moderna’s Covid-19 Vaccine Commences Phase 2 Trials

Moderna said that it commenced stage 2 trials for its new Coronavirus vaccine candidate mRNA-1273 last week. The company intends to enroll a total of 600 participants in the study, up from 45 participants in the phase 1 study. However, the trials should be quicker, as Moderna said it is looking to start phase 3 trials by July. Phase 2 trials may be viewed as more crucial compared to other phases for a couple of reasons. While phase 1 trials are used to ascertain the safety of a vaccine or treatment in humans, phase 2 trials gauge the effectiveness and also provide more data on how safe it is. Additionally, the progression from phase 2 to phase 3 may be more tricky for pharma companies. Based on historical data, the probability of success for a drug moving from phase 1 of clinical trials to phase 2 stands at about 63%, while the metric is sharply lower at 31% for phase 2 to phase 3 progression. For phase 3 to the new drug application - a stage just before approval - the POS stands at 58%. Forbes