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Moderna debuts fellowship program for young researchers focusing on mRNA therapies

Messenger RNA (mRNA) therapeutics and vaccines may offer significant promise, but few scientists specialize in the technology.

Moderna (NSDQ: MRNA) is looking to inspire a new generation of scientists and clinicians to focus on mRNA research with a new fellowship program. The program will support a range of applications within domains such as medicine, basic research, epidemiology, pharmacology and nursing.

For the first year of the program, which will launch in 2022, the company is aiming to select roughly 50 fellows from around the world to focus on mRNA-based treatments of infectious diseases.

Individuals selected for the program will receive guidance from a supervisor and fellow.

The term of fellowship will range from one to three years. The program also will provide a salary of up to $75,000 and annual expenses of up to $100,000.

“We’re at a critical moment for mRNA vaccine development,” said Dr. Greg Poland, director of Mayo Clinic’s …

India’s Gennova developing mRNA COVID-19 vaccine

India is vying to create domestic mRNA COVID-19 vaccines, with Gennova Bio (Maharashtra) emerging as a frontrunner. The company’s investigational HGCO19 vaccine will be the focus of a Phase 2/3 study.

The vaccine, developed in collaboration with privately-held Seattle-based HDT Bio, has received funding from India’s Department of Biotechnology and Ministry of Science and Technology.

Lyophilized (freeze-dried) HGCO19 has less stringent storage requirements than the vaccines from Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) and Moderna (NSDQ:MRNA), making it a better fit for developing nations.

Gennova’s experimental vaccine is also unique in that it uses self-amplifying mRNA in place of the non-replicating mRNA found in vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna.

Gennova aims to win emergency use authorization for the vaccine candidate in India by the end of the year.

India has also approved a DNA-based vaccine from Zydus Cadila (NSE:CADILAHC) known as ZyCoV-D.

mRNA quic…

CDC analysis finds COVID-19 boosters generally elicit mild-to-moderate side effects

Most third doses of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines elicit side effects in line with that of the second dose, according to a CDC report.

The study analyzed immunocompromised recipients of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccine recipients eligible for a third dose.

It pulled data from 22,191 V-safe registrations. V-safe is a CDC-created smartphone-based system for tracking adverse events. Just under one-third (31.8%) of participants reported health impacts, while 28.3% said they could not perform routine daily activities — most often on the day following receipt of the third dose.

Referencing the report at a White House briefing, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky, concluded “COVID-19 vaccine booster doses so far are well tolerated”

Injection site reactions were slightly more common among the mRNA vaccine recipients than after receiving the second dose. Systemic reactions were somewhat less common post-third dose for both Pfizer-BioNTe…

Aldevron and Ginkgo Bioworks announce mRNA manufacturing ‘breakthrough’

The partnership between Aldevron (Fargo, N.D.) and Ginkgo Bioworks (Boston) has resulted in an improvement in the manufacturing yield of the vaccinia capping enzyme (VCE).

VCEs are often used in the production of mRNA vaccines and therapeutics.

The new production protocol is more than 10 times more efficient than the prior process, according to a statement from both firms. The gene therapy company Aldevron will have exclusive rights to the protocol conditions of the manufacturing process. Ginkgo Bioworks specializes in synthetic biology.

“Aldevron’s industry-leading products and services are the foundation for some of the most exciting advances in biological science today,” said Jason Kelly, CEO of Ginkgo Bioworks, in a statement.

Tom Foti, president of Aldevron’s protein business unit, predicted the new production method would “accelerate mRNA therapeutic and vaccine development for manufacturing teams around the world.”

Ginkgo Bioworks is…

Mix-and-match COVID vaccines attract support and backlash

Image courtesy of Pexels

Several countries have embraced the idea of using distinct COVID-19 vaccines for the first and second doses. But a death in Korea is fueling concerns about the strategy, and some public authorities have warned against the practice.

Canada, Korea, Thailand and Germany have authorized the use of a heterologous prime-boost COVID-19 vaccination strategy to manage supply constraints.

A police officer in South Korea, however, has died after receiving first an AstraZeneca vaccine dose followed by a Pfizer dose, according to The Korea Times. Health authorities there will investigate the death of the 52-year-old officer, who passed away three days after receiving his second vaccine dose.

A recent preprint study published in The Lancet suggested that combinations of AstraZeneca and Pfizer vaccines were effective. Data, however, are preliminary.

Germany, Canada and Thailand…

Sanofi to spend nearly half a billion dollars a year on mRNA vaccine research

Sanofi (NYSE:SNY) announced today that it plans to invest approximately $476.3 million (€400 million) per year on mRNA vaccine development.

Paris-based Sanofi’s intends for its annual investment to go toward a first-of-its-kind vaccines “mRNA Center of Excellence,” where work will be conducted to accelerate the development and delivery of next-generation vaccines.

Approximately 400 employees will integrate end-to-end mRNA vaccine capabilities with dedicated R&D, digital and chemistry, manufacturing and controls (CMC) teams at sites in Cambridge, Mass., and Marcy l’Etoile, Lyon, France, according to a news release. The center will seek to accelerate the mRNA portfolio developed by Sanofi in collaboration with Translate Bio, the company said.

“During the COVID-19 pandemic, mRNA technologies demonstrated potential to deliver new vaccines faster than ever before,” Sanofi Pasteur global head of R&D Jean-Francois Toussaint…

Canadian federal advisory committee prefers mRNA COVID-19 vaccines

Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine image courtesy of Wikipedia

Canada’s National Advisory Council on Immunization (NACI) has recommended that Canadians wait to receive the messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines from Moderna (NSDQ:MRNA) and Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) and BioNTech (NSDQ:BNTX) when feasible. The advice stands in contrast to prior guidance that Canadians seek the first-available vaccines.

“What we’re saying and what we’ve said all along is that mRNA vaccines are the preferred vaccine,” said NACI’s co-chair, Dr. Shelley Deeks.

Canada had recently put on hold plans to distribute 300,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine from Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ). The reason for the move lies in J&J’s contract manufacturing partner, Emergent BioSolutions (NYSE:EBS), which inadvertently ruined 15 million doses of the vaccine.

NACI has recommended the J&J vaccine for those over the age of 30 where mRNA vaccine suppl…

BioNTech and Moderna set their sights on treating cancer

Nodular melanoma. Image courtesy of Wikipedia.

COVID-19 vaccines launched BioNTech and Moderna into the limelight, making these once little-known companies prominent companies. But neither wants to be pigeonholed as a COVID-19 vaccine company.

BioNTech cofounder Özlem Türeci stressed in a recent interview with AP that the mRNA vaccine technology that is its focus could be a powerful weapon against cancer. “We have several different cancer vaccines based on mRNA,” said Türeci, BioNTech’s chief medical officer.

Such therapy could be available to people within a “couple of years,” Türeci said, stressing that it is difficult to predict regulatory timelines involving emerging therapies.

BioNTech is currently working on several novel immunotherapies for oncology targeting melanoma, prostate cancer and cancers associated with human papillomavirus.

Moderna is also exploring the possibility of…

What made rapid mRNA COVID-19 vaccine development possible

Vials containing the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine. Image from Wikipedia.

A segment of the population is wary of COVID-19 vaccines. One of the main reasons why is the rapid pace at which they were developed.

But the mRNA vaccines FDA was able to authorize in late 2020 were years in the making, stressed Kizzmekia Corbett of the NIH at CDC’s National Forum on COVID-19 Vaccine virtual event.

The traditional vaccine development process, which typically spans years, was “shortened, but no integrity was lost,” Corbett said.

Scientists at the NIH have studied coronaviruses for several years, said Corbett, who leads a research team there focused on coronavirus vaccines.

One central factor driving the rapid development of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines was the collaboration between laboratories, institutions and companies across the globe.

“And then secondly, there was extensive work on MERS and other …