Over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, the world learned of the tremendous potential of mRNA vaccine technology. Now in the wake of the recovery from that outbreak, mRNA vaccine pioneer Moderna wish to establish it as a fully blown platform technology. They hope that by doing so they can meet various medical needs, demonstrate high predictability, accelerated R&D timelines, and efficient manufacturing.
Beyond COVID-19, the company are exploring mRNA technology’s use in vaccines against RSV, norovirus, and in oncology and rare disease treatments. Moderna currently has about 45 products in its pipeline, ranging from phase one to commercial. Their second commercial product mRESVIA was approved in 2024 to treat RSV in the US, Europe, Canada, and Qatar.
Moderna have worked on enhancing the regulatory efficiency of the technology. By standardising the manufacturing process of mRNA products, regulatory assessments can be faster. Vinals noted how this could increase the potential for quicker availability of new vaccine treatments for patients. Furthermore, leveraging platform technology concepts can enhance the efficiency of the regulatory process.
During the pandemic, Moderna distributed over 1.55 billion doses of their COVID-19 vaccine. As a result, the company has a gigantic database of safety information about their product. This has given Moderna assurance about the safety profile of their mRNA technology. Vinals noted that their platform has more safety data collected than many other platforms that have been around for decades longer.
The presentation then highlighted several examples of successful rapid development timelines for various vaccines, including Moderna’s RSV vaccine which was developed in under three years. Vinals also discussed their ongoing projects for flu and norovirus vaccines. The speed of development is an essential feature of the mRNA technology.
The pandemic changed the world in many ways, but perhaps one positive has been the rapid scale up of mRNA vaccine technology. Now, with the advent of a vaccine development platform from Moderna, we can learn from the last pandemic to secure our future against the next outbreak.