On Jan. 21, 2021, Moderna announced that the first participant has been dosed in the Phase 1/2 study of Moderna’s vaccine candidate against COVID-19 (mRNA-1273 or TAK-919) in Japan, led by Takeda Pharmaceutical. TAK-919 is Takeda’s development code for Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine candidate.

This placebo-controlled Phase 1/2 study evaluated the safety and immunogenicity of two vaccinations of mRNA-1273 given 28 days apart. Takeda intended to enroll 200 participants aged 20 years and above in Japan. Each participant will be assigned to receive a placebo or a 100 μg dose at both vaccinations. Participants were followed through 12 months after the second vaccination. The ClinicalTrials.gov identifier was NCT04677660.