Moderna needs to dispel doubts about its post-Covid strategy

 With the pandemic cash flowing Moderna is investing heavily in vaccines for other infectious diseases, but poor tolerability, known to be an issue with its Covid vaccine, could become a broader problem. At an R&D day yesterday new data on its flu project mRNA-1010 showed systemic and local adverse events at double the rates seen with CSL’s Afluria, which was used as control in a phase 2 trial. Antibody responses were comparable, but the project’s reactogenicity profile is a commercial and clinical “non-starter”, according to Leerink analysts, who believe further development to be a “poor use of resources”. This is an issue unlikely to be restricted to flu and Covid. Jacqueline Miller, Moderna’s head of infectious disease development, said the group's RSV candidate displayed a similar adverse event profile to the rest of the vaccine platform. The next dataset to scrutinise will be cytomegalovirus – data from a 6,900-patient trial are due towards the end of 2022. Meanwhile, the company is also investing heavily in next-gen Covid offerings, but the pandemic windfall will end, and Moderna still needs to prove that it has a technology capable of competing in less urgent circumstances.

Moderna's plan for a post-Covid world – projects to watch
Project	Setting	Next steps
mRNA-1010	Flu	In preparations for ph3
mRNA-1073	Covid+Flu	To enter the clinic this year
mRNA-1230	Covid+Flu+RSV for adults >50	Preclinical development
mRNA-1345	RSV older adults	Pivotal Conquer RSV trial started Nov 2021; results expected YE'24
mRNA-1647	Cytomegalovirus	Ph3 under way; results expected H2'22
mRNA-1189	Epstein-Barr (infectious mononucleosis)	Ph1 results expected H2'23
mRNA-1644	HIV	Ph1 initiated early 2022
mRNA-1574	HIV	Ph1 getting under way Mar 2022
mRNA-1893	Zika	Ph2 under way
Source: company presentation.  https://www.evaluate.com/vantage/articles/news/corporate-strategy-snippets/moderna-needs-dispel-doubts-about-its-post-covid