On Apr. 16, 2020, the U.S. government announced it will fund development of an experimental coronavirus vaccine from Moderna through to approval by the Food and Drug Administration, pledging as much as $483 million to speed clinical testing and prepare for large-scale production should the vaccine prove safe and effective.

The cash is also a vote of confidence from the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, the federal agency which is partnering with the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based biotech on vaccine development. Awards from the agency are typically smaller or are tied to supply orders for national stockpiles.

Moderna specializes in a new and, as of yet, unproven type of vaccine technology, which helped it design and ready a prototype for initial human testing in just over two months — an exceptionally fast turnaround that reflects the urgency at which companies and regulators are moving to address the global pandemic.

Moderna was the first biotech to begin clinical testing of a vaccine against SARS-CoV-2, as the coronavirus is called, but other groups, including China’s CanSino Biologics, have now followed. Larger drugmakers like Sanofi, GlaxoSmithKline and Johnson & Johnson are rapidly moving through preclinical studies with an aim to begin human trials this year, too.

A Phase 1 study of mRNA-1273, led by the National Institutes of Health, began on March 16 and has already met its target of enrolling 45 healthy volunteers, Moderna also said Thursday evening. Six new groups of older and elderly adults will be added to the study, while Moderna simultaneously prepares to start a Phase 2 trial within the next two months, pending positive safety data.