Moderna and Merck’s mRNA success fuels focus on ‘scaling out and scaling down’

 

After mastering mass-market mRNA production during the pandemic, the industry now needs to achieve the timely delivery of individualized vaccines to thousands of patients.

The recent clinical success of Merck and Moderna’s intismeran autogene raised expectations for personalized mRNA cancer vaccines across the industry. Yet getting the products to patients presents new challenges.

In the past, the industry was focused on scaling up, Roberta Duncan, founder and principal of strategic consulting firm The Modeste Duncan Group, told BioSpace. Now, the conversation is about “scaling out and scaling down,” added Duncan, who also serves on the board of the Alliance for mRNA Medicines.

To make intismeran, Moderna sequences an individual’s cancer and healthy cells and analyzes the data using an automated bioinformatics system to identify up to 34 patient-specific neoantigens. Formulated in a lipid nanoparticle delivery system, mRNA encoding the neoantigens triggers protein production in the body to drive an immune response against the tumor.

By 2025, Moderna had reduced the time from sample collection to vaccine administration to around six weeks, down from roughly seven to eight weeks in 2019. The turnaround time “can probably be brought under one month,” Guggenheim Securities analysts said in an Aug. 21 note to investors, citing Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center computational oncologist Benjamin Greenbaum.

Moderna has set up a dedicated facility in Massachusetts to support intismeran’s planned launch. The company calculates that the facility can support the vaccine “for several years,” Moderna President Stephen Hoge said on an earnings call in July. The plant should “satisfy the initial indication” of melanoma, Hoge added, and Moderna will add more capacity to meet demand beyond an initial launch.

Hoge was speaking before the INTerpath-001 trial readout raised expectations for intismeran. Last month, an earlier-than-expected trial readout showed the personalized vaccine combined with Keytruda improved outcomes in patients with melanoma, nearly doubling Moderna’s share price while Merck’s stock jumped 12%.

Moderna, which is primarily responsible for manufacturing intismeran under the terms of its deal with Merck, did not respond to BioSpace’s questions about how the clinical success has affected the company’s thinking about demand and capacity.

Moderna’s ability to make intismeran for the thousands of patients in active trials of the vaccine is built on years of investment in in-house capabilities. Biotechs without such capabilities can supply the market by working with CDMOs, Duncan said, provided they can find partners “willing to invest in miniaturizing scale, because they’re all built for large-scale manufacturing.”

As personalized mRNA vaccines come to market, Duncan warned, “we’re going to have to have a really hard conversation about cost of goods and the cost of manufacturing.” Believing that clinical data show the novel modality works, Duncan now sees the speed and cost of production as the keys to commercial success.

“It’s not going to be on the biology,” she said. “It’s going to be on the logistics and the cost.”

https://www.biospace.com/drug-delivery/moderna-and-mercks-mrna-success-fuels-focus-on-scaling-out-and-scaling-down

'Saudi-led coalition says 73 injured in Houthi strikes'

 The Saudi-led military coalition in Yemen said 73 civilians, including women and children, were injured in recent Houthi strikes targeting civilian and economic sites in Saudi Arabia.

Coalition spokesperson Turki Al-Maliki said the attacks hit Abha, Khamis Mushait, Najran and Jazan, calling them a "dangerous escalation." He added that coalition forces would take "necessary" measures to respond to the threats and prevent further attacks.

"These sinful and unjustified attacks committed by the Terrorist Houthi Militia deliberately harm the Kingdom's national resources, facilities, and civilian sites, and confirm its extremist criminal behavior that rejects achieving peace and stability in Yemen and its Arab and Islamic neighbors," the statement read.

https://breakingthenews.net/Article/Saudi-led-coalition-says-73-injured-in-Houthi-strikes/67059819

Rise Of The Machines: China's Military Prepares Humanoid Robots For Combat

 At the start of the year, we warned about the prospect of humanoid robots moving beyond factory floors and into military operations.

China's World Humanoid Robot Games last month showcased advances in robotic speed and mobility, while reports of Beijing's expanding military research suggest preparations for eventual battlefield deployment are gathering pace. The prospect of humanoids operating alongside troops and one-way attack drones presents an unsettling new view of warfare's next phase: the rise of the machines.

Reuters published a new report on Monday that said:

China's defense establishment is accelerating research into humanoids' military uses and planning for their eventual wartime deployment, according to a Reuters review of more than 100 Chinese military procurement notices, academic studies, patents, official publications, government records and defense-company materials.

While the world marveled at China's World Humanoid Robot Games, which showcased robots sprinting, jumping, dancing, and participating in sporting events, the Chinese military urged researchers to accelerate the transfer of advanced technologies from laboratories to military training grounds for robotic "combatants."

China's largest robotics company, Unitree, published a video on X on Monday morning showcasing "Fully Autonomous Humanoid Robot Combat."

We reported on February 2 that "humanoid warfare nears," and a TIME magazine article in early March later confirmed our report about the American humanoid robotics company Foundation testing its robots for war.

Then, in July, we reported:

• Ukraine Plans To Hyper-Innovate Humanoid Robot Soldiers

And in mid-August:

• Humanoid War Robots Could Soon Patrol US Southern Border To Combat Weaponized Migrant Flows

The prospect of "Skynet-like" warfare is becoming more real by the week as humanoid robotics advances alongside one-way attack drones, unmanned ground vehicles, and increasingly automated kill chains. If integrated at scale, these robots could further accelerate the shift to an automated modern battlefield.  

https://www.zerohedge.com/technology/rise-machines-chinas-military-prepares-humanoid-robots-war

Clancy’s lawyer bashed America’s juries — and battered another pillar of justice

 Lawyers are supposed to protect and defend America’s justice system. 

Kevin Reddington, the Massachusetts attorney defending Lindsay Clancy, seems more like an abuser thereof.

In what law professor Jonathan Turley described as “a breathtaking abandonment of restraint and decency,” Reddington went after the lone holdout juror in the case of the killer mom — a (so far) unknown figure who we’re told was one of the panel’s three males. 

Reddington, in an unhinged press conference after a mistrial was called, accused the dissident of stealing his fellow jurors’ time: “They know that they were robbed by one man for whatever his agenda was, who stole seven weeks of the life of these other jurors.”

He also charged the holdout with hostility toward the disabled — that is, toward the crazed defendant.

Citing the Americans with Disabilities Act, Reddington claimed that leaving a man who didn’t buy Clancy’s insanity plea on the jury was like leaving a racist on a jury. 

“The scene was a fitting end to a visceral trial,” Turley observed — “but it added a vindictive element that should prompt Judge William Sullivan to call out the seasoned defense attorney.”

Reddington’s inflammatory comments fueled a crowd of Clancy’s supporters, who condemned the local district attorney for, in their view, caring only about the three dead children, and not the suffering of the mother — you know, the one who admitted killing those children.

Well.  

Traditionally, lawyers don’t attack jurors. 

Citizen jurors are an important, in fact essential, part of our justice system, and those who serve on juries are performing a public service (for a pittance in pay). 

In the short term, Reddington’s remarks risk poisoning a future jury pool in Clancy’s case — by making future jurors in a retrial afraid to stand by their own views for fear of being hung out to dry.

Or maybe they’re designed to do that.

His accusations put a target on the holdout juror’s back — and Internet sleuths, or leaks, are likely to get his name out before the furor dies down. 

This sort of harassment may be a breach of legal ethics, and certainly doesn’t reflect well upon the Massachusetts bar or on the legal system that seems to be tolerating it. 

Meanwhile, Reddington’s unsupported claim of ADA bias is conceivably actionable, and certainly stupid.

The jury heard weeks of testimony; public opinion on the case is fractured. 

Reddington can’t honestly believe that prejudice was this juror’s only reason for dissent.

That doesn’t mean his effort to disqualify the holdout via a last-minute motion to the Massachusetts Supreme Court was unethical — just aggressive, and legally weak. 

His attempted character assassination after the fact, on the other hand, was just plain wrong.

Perhaps he has committed the cardinal lawyer’s sin of getting too close to his client, or perhaps he couldn’t stand having victory snatched away from him by a single juror. 

Either way, it’s a very bad reflection on Kevin Reddington, who has abused his position as an officer of the court to make these remarks, exhibiting poor judgment and worse behavior by an experienced lawyer who should know better.

But there’s a bigger issue here. 

We have for the last couple of generations seen our political leadership class — which certainly includes much of the bar — engage in a game of civilizational Jenga, removing various supporting pillars of our society, one by one, mostly in moments of pique when things don’t go their way.

Think lawfare prosecutions of political opponents, or using censorship to sway an election.

This is another such case.

Our legal system depends on juries. 

For juries to do their duty, and to be seen as legitimate, they must be independent, with all members free to vote as their conscience demands. 

Twelve individuals, making up their own minds after evaluating the evidence as they see it.

Free to persuade one another in private deliberations — and free to reject such persuasion.

Sometimes, when a panel cannot unanimously agree, that will produce a hung jury.  

In our system, that’s a protection for defendants: If 12 people can’t agree on their guilt based on the evidence presented, they can’t be convicted.

If jurors aren’t allowed to stick to their own opinions, juries can’t work. 

Reddington should consider carefully if that’s what he really wants.

Glenn Harlan Reynolds is a professor of law at the University of Tennessee and founder of the InstaPundit.com blog.

https://nypost.com/2026/09/07/opinion/lindsay-clancys-lawyer-bashed-our-juries-and-battered-justice/

China's Provinces Show Evidence Of Financial Pressure And The Economy's Imbalances

 by Milton Ezrati via The Epoch Times,

Some 28 provinces and separate jurisdictions increasingly have had to turn to Beijing for help closing budget gaps, according to China's Ministry of Finance.

People walk next to a screen with a stocks indicator in the Jing'an district in Shanghai, China, on April 7, 2025. Hector Retamal/AFP via Getty Images

It is not unusual for Beijing to have to chip in. It gets the lion's share of the country's tax revenues. But the growing need to turn to Beijing nonetheless points to the economy's imbalances and other problems.

Some transfers from Beijing have occurred since the country's tax-sharing reforms were implemented in the 1990s. Beijing gets all income tax revenues from both individuals and companies, all securities trading levies, and all customs duties.

Provinces and like entities must depend almost entirely on deed and land appreciation taxes. Even during the boom years of property development, some provinces needed help. Few had what the Chinese call budgetary "self-sufficiency ratios" at 100 percent.

Outlining the most recent data from this year's first quarter, the deputy director general of the finance ministry's budget department, Tang Zaifu, downplayed the troubling direction of provincial finances. The figures, however, make clear that self-sufficiency has deteriorated and dependency has grown.

Now, Beijing must cover half the budget needs of the 22 provinces under its control and an additional five separate jurisdictions. (Beijing claims 23 provinces, but one, Taiwan, manages its own budget and obviously is not subject to the People's Republic of China's governance.)

The needs of this large number of jurisdictions vary greatly. It is significant, however, that even Shanghai - one of the country's richest areas - failed to meet its own budget needs during this year's opening quarter - this for the first time since the pandemic.

Some areas have done comparatively well. Zhejiang, for instance, managed a self-sufficiency ratio of just over 96 percent. Other rich areas, such as Shandong and Guangdong provinces, showed self-sufficiency ratios exceeding 70 percent.

Other areas did less well, a lot less well. Filling all the budget gaps will cost Beijing some 10.5 trillion yuan, more than a third of the government's entire budget.

Though arcane in many respects, these budget needs and burdens offer yet other perspectives on the imbalances in China's economy and finances.

The first point that becomes clear is how much China's economic reality has changed since the still-prevailing budget reform rules of the 1990s. Those revenue-sharing arrangements, implicitly dependent on a booming property development sector, are simply no longer viable. The still-ongoing property crisis has thoroughly reordered the economy.

These budget figures also point, albeit obliquely, to how narrowly focused China's economy has become. The only reliable growth lies in the mostly high-technology sectors favored by Beijing's "Made in China 2025" program.

Broad-based development has received short shrift, including the Chinese consumer and investments in other, mostly privately owned sectors, making China's economy narrower and more export-dependent than ever.

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/chinas-provinces-show-evidence-financial-pressure-and-economys-imbalances

Japan's NEC Halts Quantum Computer Project After Decades Of Research

 NEC has ended its effort to develop a working quantum computer, reportedly deciding that the project would take too long to deliver an acceptable return on investment, according to a new report by Nikkei.

The move represents a significant change in direction for a company that has been involved in quantum computing research for more than three decades.

NEC was among the earliest companies to pursue the technology, beginning its research in the 1990s and achieving a major breakthrough in 1999 with the first demonstration of superconducting qubits. Those qubits remain one of the principal approaches used in quantum computer development today. Despite that early lead, NEC discontinued work on its own physical quantum computer at the end of March.

Nikkei reported that the company will continue pursuing quantum-related technologies and services, including quantum annealing, which is used to find efficient solutions to complex optimization problems. NEC also plans to expand services that use conventional computers to simulate quantum computing.

The shift suggests that management sees a more immediate commercial opportunity in applying quantum-related techniques than in funding the lengthy and expensive development of its own hardware.

NEC’s retreat comes as other major players continue investing heavily in the field. IBM and Google remain prominent competitors in the United States, while China is advancing quantum computing through coordinated public- and private-sector efforts.

In Japan, Fujitsu is continuing its research and signed an agreement in August with an Australian university and government research institution to collaborate on quantum-related projects.

The industry has nevertheless made meaningful technical progress over the past two to three years. Google’s Willow processor, introduced in 2024, demonstrated that error rates could decline as additional qubits were added, an important step toward building larger and more reliable systems.

Microsoft and Quantinuum have also reported advances in error correction, while Amazon’s Ocelot prototype, unveiled in 2025, was designed to reduce the hardware required to produce reliable logical qubits. Increasingly, the challenge is not simply to build machines with more qubits, but to make those qubits stable enough to perform useful calculations.

That progress has yet to resolve the commercial question. IBM’s experimental Loon chip, unveiled in November 2025, forms part of its effort to develop a fault-tolerant quantum computer by 2029, while Google reported another quantum-advantage demonstration in October.

Such milestones show that the technology is advancing, but they do not establish when quantum computers will become broadly useful or economically viable. NEC’s decision therefore illustrates the distinction between scientific progress and investment returns: the industry may be moving forward, but the timetable for turning those advances into a profitable business remains uncertain.

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/japans-nec-halts-quantum-computer-project-after-decades-research

U.S. military sinks another floating fuel station tied to Ecuadorian drug gang

 A U.S. task force has intercepted and sunk its fifth floating refueling station linked to Ecuador’s Los Choneros gang in less than a week, according to the U.S. military.

The latest operation took place in the eastern Pacific on Monday, where Joint Task Force Western Hemisphere found a vessel supporting at-sea drug-trafficking operations.

U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) said intelligence linked the vessel to Los Choneros, which U.S. authorities describe as a violent narco-terrorist organization.

U.S. forces boarded and cleared the vessel before removing the crew, who will be transferred to Ecuadorian authorities. The vessel was then sunk.

The operation is the fifth similar interdiction since a U.S. task force sank another Los Choneros-linked refueling station last week.

The floating stations are used to provide fuel and other logistical support to drug-trafficking vessels operating far from shore.

Los Choneros is one of two Ecuadorian gangs, along with Los Lobos, designated by the United States as Foreign Terrorist Organizations.

https://bnonews.com/index.php/2026/09/u-s-task-force-sinks-5th-los-choneros-floating-fuel-station-in-less-than-a-week/