Moderna begins human trial for multi-strain mRNA flu vaccine
The US biotech firm Moderna has begun it first participants in a human study of an mRNA vaccine that targets multiple strains of influenza.
The CEO Stephane Bancel, said in a statement that, the company intends to recruit 180 adults in the United States for the Phase 1/2 portion of the trial to evaluate the safety and strength of immune response to the vaccine, called mRNA-1010.
It is based on the same messenger ribonucleic (mRNA) technology deployed in Moderna’s COVID-19 shot, which is more than 90 percent effective, and if the trial proves successful, it could lead to a new generation of more protective flu vaccines.
“We expect that our seasonal influenza vaccine candidates will be an important component of our future combination respiratory vaccines.
“The majority of current flu vaccines are based on inactivated viruses cultivated in chicken eggs,” Stephane said.
The strains have to be selected six to nine months before the vaccines are intended to be used, and their efficacy is approximately 40 to 60 percent.
Moderna hopes mRNA technology, which provokes an immune response by delivering genetic molecules containing the code for key parts of a pathogen into human cells, can accelerate development and increase scalability.
Several mRNA molecules that encode for different strains can also be delivered in the same shot.
The flu shot under development targets four strains of flu recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO): A (H1N1), A(H3N2), B/Yamagata and B/Victoria.
Moderna also plans to explore potential combination vaccines against flu, SARS-CoV-2, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and human metapneumovirus.
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