US pharmaceutical company Pfizer Inc (NYSE:PFE) reported on Wednesday that the first participants have been dosed in a pivotal Phase 3 clinical trial to evaluate the efficacy, safety, tolerability and immunogenicity of the company's quadrivalent modified RNA (modRNA) influenza vaccine candidate.

Approximately 25,000 healthy US adults will take part in the trial.

According to Pfizer, the flexibility of mRNA technology and its rapid manufacturing could potentially allow better strain matches in future years. In a pandemic influenza situation, mRNA technology could also allow rapid, large-scale manufacturing of vaccines.

mRNA-based influenza vaccines require only the genetic sequence of the virus.