On April 27, biotechnology company Moderna (NASDAQ: MRNA) announced its submission of an investigational new drug (IND) application to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to start phase 2 clinical trials related to its mRNA-1273 vaccine, which is being developed to fight the novel coronavirus.
Moderna's chief medical officer, Tal Zaks, said that the FDA had given the investigational vaccine a "fast track" designation to expedite clinical trials.
mRNA-1273 is developed on an mRNA vaccine platform. RNA -- ribonucleic acid -- is a molecule that's essential in the biological coding, decoding, regulation, and expression of genes.