On the vaccine front, American biotech firm Moderna was one of the first companies in the world to react to the Covid-19 outbreak back in January.

Alongside the US NIH (National Institute of Health), it began working on its mRNA-1273 vaccine candidate before the first coronavirus cases outside of China had been confirmed.

This potential Covid-19 vaccine has since entered clinical trials, received a funding boost of close to $500m and been fast-tracked through regulatory protocols by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

With Moderna joining Pfizer, Merck, Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca as the “finalists” in Donald Trump’s Operation Warp Speed last week, we take a closer look at how this relatively young biotech company moved to the forefront of the race to find a coronavirus vaccine.

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