Moderna has shipped the first vials of its coronavirus vaccine candidate, mRNA-1273, to the Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).

NIAID will use the product for an upcoming Phase I clinical trial in the US. NIAID official said that the trial is due to start in April, reported Wall Stree Journal.

MRNA-1273 is an mRNA vaccine that encodes for a prefusion stabilised form of the Spike (S) protein of the coronavirus. The candidate was chosen by Moderna?in alliance with?the NIAID Vaccine Research Center (VRC).

The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI)?funded the production?of this batch. mRNA-1273 was delivered from the company?s manufacturing plant in Norwood, Massachusetts, US.

Moderna chief technical operations and quality officer Juan Andres said: ?The collaboration across Moderna, with NIAID, and with CEPI has allowed us to deliver a clinical batch in 42 days from sequence identification.

The coronavirus vaccine candidate is part of the Moderna?s core prophylactic vaccines modality.