MODERNA WINS US FUNDING FOR BIRD FLU VACCINE AS ANIMAL INFECTIONS GROW

Moderna will receive $176mn in US government funding to support a late-stage trial of its bird flu vaccine, as health officials step up efforts to boost vaccine stockpiles in response to a growing outbreak among farm animals.

H5N1 bird flu has been detected on poultry farms in almost every US state and in dairy herds in a dozen states, making it the biggest outbreak in recent years, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Three dairy workers have also become infected because of exposure to cattle.

The federal funding from the government’s Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (Barda) will support Moderna’s phase-three trials of a messenger RNA-based avian flu vaccine as well as providing options for supply to be increased in case of a pandemic emerging, the company said on Tuesday.

US health officials still classify the public health risk from bird flu as low but have been stepping up efforts to monitor its spread and increase vaccine supplies. Finland will this month become the first country to offer a bird flu vaccine to farm workers.

This year, Barda reached a deal with CSL Seqirus to provide 4.8mn doses of its H5N1 bird flu shot, which uses more traditional, protein-based manufacturing methods. The US stockpile also includes hundreds of thousands of doses of vaccines developed by Sanofi and GSK.

Stéphane Bancel, Moderna’s chief executive, said the group’s mRNA technology “offers advantages in efficacy, speed of development and production scalability and reliability . . . as demonstrated during the Covid-19 pandemic”.

The CSL Seqirus vaccine provides immunity to the current strain of bird flu, according to laboratory testing, but relies on cell and egg-based manufacturing techniques, which is more time-consuming.

Results from Moderna’s mid-stage trial of its bird flu vaccine, which targets H5 and H7 strains of the virus and was launched last year, are expected in the coming weeks. Pfizer also has a bird flu vaccine in early-stage trials.

Shares in Moderna have plummeted 74 per cent from their pandemic peak as demand for its pioneering Covid vaccines has waned. The US biotech last month received regulatory approval for its vaccine targeting respiratory syncytial virus, but it is less effective than jabs produced by Pfizer and GSK.

2024-07-02T11:32:26Z dg43tfdfdgfd