(Reuters) - Moderna Inc said on Tuesday Canada's health ministry will review its experimental COVID-19 vaccine in real time, becoming the third vaccine maker to be accepted by the country for the process that may speed up approval.
Health Canada is already conducting real-time reviews of COVID-19 vaccine candidates from BioNTech SE and Pfizer Inc (NYSE:PFE), as well as AstraZeneca.
Moderna said it has begun the rolling submission in Canada following positive early results from studies of its vaccine candidate, mRNA-1273.
Last week, the drugmaker said it will soon apply for a real-time review of mRNA-1273 in Europe, days after the European Union health regulator launched rolling reviews of shots from AstraZeneca and Pfizer-BioNTech.
Real-time reviews could speed up the process of approving a successful vaccine by allowing researchers to submit findings in real time, without having to wait for studies to conclude.
Moderna, one of the furthest along in the U.S. race for a COVID-19 vaccine, said last week the ongoing U.S. trial of mRNA-1273 was on track for a data readout by November.
