Moderna receives $176 million from BARDA for mRNA influenza vaccines
Moderna has been awarded $176 million by the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority to accelerate development of messenger RNA-based pandemic influenza vaccines, the company announced in a statement Tuesday.
BARDA, a strategic preparedness arm of the Department of Health and Human Services, has said for weeks that it has been in talks with mRNA vaccine manufacturers with an aim to diversify the government’s pandemic flu vaccine response capacity. The U.S. government already has vaccine contracts with and stockpiles of H5 vaccines made using other platforms by other manufacturers, including CSL Seqirus and Sanofi.
“mRNA vaccine technology offers advantages in efficacy, speed of development, and production scalability and reliability in addressing infectious disease outbreaks, as demonstrated during the Covid-19 pandemic,” Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel said in the statement. “We are pleased to continue our collaboration with BARDA to expedite our development efforts for mRNA-based pandemic influenza vaccines and support the global public health community in preparedness against potential outbreaks.”
The company has already been working on mRNA-based pandemic vaccines, specifically targeting H5 and H7 avian influenza viruses. Last year Moderna conducted a Phase 1/2 clinical trial of its candidate mRNA-1018, testing H5 and H7 versions at several dosages in a regimen of two shots separated by three weeks. Previous research has shown that H5 viruses are poorly immunogenic in people and vaccination requires two doses to induce what is thought to be a protective response.
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