$590 Million Supports Pre-Pandemic mRNA-based Vaccine Development

Moderna, Inc. recently announced ongoing support from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to accelerate the development of mRNA-based pandemic influenza vaccines.

In 2023, Moderna initiated a Phase 1/2 clinical study to generate safety and immunogenicity data for an investigational pandemic influenza vaccine (mRNA-1018). The study included vaccine candidates against H5 and H7 avian influenza viruses.

Announced on January 17, 2025, the $590 million award was made through the Rapid Response Partnership Vehicle Consortium with funding from the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority.

The project will support the late-stage development and licensure of pre-pandemic mRNA-based vaccines. The HHS-Moderna agreement will also expand clinical studies for up to five additional subtypes of pandemic influenza.

As of January 21, 2025, the Phase 1/2 results have not been released; however, Moderna is preparing to advance mRNA-1018 into Phase 3 clinical study.

Today's funding follows the $176 million the U.S. government awarded Moderna in July 2024.

The U.S. and European governments have invested in developing avian and pandemic influenza vaccines for years, and the U.S. Has previously approved one vaccine.

The UK government says pandemic influenza viruses are characterized by their tendency to change rapidly, their ability to spread quickly, and the routes of transmission, which contribute to the difficulty in containing an infectious global outbreak.

Influenza A viruses are most likely to cause influenza pandemics due to an extensive reservoir of these viruses in animal populations, particularly avian and swine, to which humans have no immunity.

Compared to seasonal influenza, population immunity to the new influenza A virus is nonexistent or sufficiently low to facilitate rapid person-to-person transmission and increase the severity of illness among those infected. This is generally associated with higher rates of disease and death.

Furthermore, annual 'flu=shots' are not expected to protect people from pandemic influenza viruses.

On December 11, 2024, the U.S. administration informed the media that there are no active plans to authorize the distribution of avian influenza (bird flu) vaccines.