PANDA is a key experiment of the future FAIR facility, under construction in Darmstadt, Germany. It will study the collisions between an antiproton beam and a fixed proton or nuclear target. The Micro Vertex Detector (MVD) is the innermost detector of the apparatus and is composed of four concentric barrels and six forward disks, instrumented with silicon hybrid pixel and doublesided silicon microstrip detectors; its main task is the identification of primary and secondary vertices. The main requirements include high spatial and time resolution, trigger-less readout with high rate capability, good radiation tolerance and low material budget. The design of the strip barrel detector and the related recent developments are summarized in this document. Prototypes of double-sided strip sensors were characterized with a probe station and with proton and neutron irradiations. The sensors will be read out with a self-triggering ASIC, employing the Time-over-Threshold technique for energy loss measurement. The sensors and readout chips will be supported by 46 carbon fiber staves, embedding an active cooling system; a flexible multilayer bus will be used to route the signals on the stave towards the DAQ system.