Moderna Begins Phase 3 Clinical Trial for COVID-19 Vaccine...Expectations for Release Within the Year (Comprehensive)

Five Companies Including Moderna Conducting Phase 3 Vaccine Trials
Amid Price Controversy, Global Vaccine Alliance States "No Fixed Price Yet"

[Image source=AP Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunwoo Lee] The novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine being developed by the U.S. pharmaceutical company Moderna has entered its final Phase 3 clinical trial. Expectations for the vaccine's release within this year are also rising. Along with Moderna, vaccines from five pharmaceutical companies have entered Phase 3 clinical trials so far, and they are expected to be released by early next year at the latest. As the vaccine production timeline approaches, attention is also turning to vaccine pricing.

According to foreign media including The New York Times (NYT) on the 27th (local time), Moderna announced that it would begin Phase 3 clinical trials of the vaccine jointly developed with the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) starting that day. This clinical trial will be conducted on 30,000 volunteers across 89 cities throughout the United States. Half of the volunteers will receive the vaccine, while the other half will be given a placebo, and their conditions will be compared and observed to verify the vaccine's efficacy and safety.

The Trump administration had invested massive funds in Moderna under the "Operation Warp Speed," so expectations are high. U.S. Vice President Mike Pence visited the Miller School of Medicine in Miami, Florida, one of the locations where Moderna's clinical trials are underway, and stated, "We will ensure that this vaccine is administered to Americans as quickly and safely as possible." NIH Director Francis Collins also emphasized, "Our goal is to distribute a safe and effective vaccine by the end of this year," indicating that vaccine distribution within the year is possible.

Earlier, the U.S. Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) announced an additional support of $472 million (approximately 568.2 billion KRW) to Moderna for vaccine development including Phase 3 trials. Including the $483 million previously received from BARDA in April, Moderna has received a total of $955 million in development funding from the U.S. government. The results of Moderna's Phase 3 clinical trials are expected to be announced between October and November. In a statement, Moderna said, "Starting next year, we will be able to produce and distribute between 500 million and up to 1 billion doses of the vaccine annually."

On the same day, the U.S. pharmaceutical company Pfizer also announced that it would begin Phase 3 clinical trials involving 30,000 test subjects at 120 locations worldwide outside the United States. As a result, the number of pharmaceutical companies that have entered Phase 3 clinical trials has increased to five, including Moderna. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), vaccines from five pharmaceutical companies?AstraZeneca from the United Kingdom, Sinopharm and Sinovac from China, and Moderna and Pfizer from the United States?are currently undergoing Phase 3 clinical trials. Notably, AstraZeneca, which began Phase 3 trials in May, is expected to start vaccine production in the UK as early as September this year.

As expectations for vaccine release within the year rise, controversies over pricing are also growing. Earlier, some foreign media reported that when the U.S. government recently signed a vaccine supply contract with Pfizer, the supply price per person was set at about $40. Seth Berkley, CEO of the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI), said in an interview with major foreign media on the same day, "Most vaccines are still in early clinical stages and their effectiveness has not been definitively proven, so supply prices have not yet been finalized." He added, "While supply prices around $40 per person are being mentioned among high-income countries such as the U.S. and the European Union (EU), this represents the upper end of the vaccine price range and is not the fixed price."

Meanwhile, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced at a virtual press briefing held at the WHO headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, that "This Thursday (the 30th) marks six months since the declaration of the COVID-19 outbreak as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC)," and that "an emergency committee on COVID-19 will be convened." Director-General Ghebreyesus expressed concern about the current pandemic situation, calling it "the most serious."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.