Moderna needs to dispel doubts about its post-Covid strategy

With the pandemic cash flowing Moderna is investing heavily in vaccines for other infectious diseases, but poor tolerability, known to be an issue with its Covid vaccine, could become a broader problem. At an R&D day yesterday new data on its flu project mRNA-1010 showed systemic and local adverse events at double the rates seen with CSL’s Afluria, which was used as control in a phase 2 trial. Antibody responses were comparable, but the project’s reactogenicity profile is a commercial and clinical “non-starter”, according to Leerink analysts, who believe further development to be a “poor use of resources”. This is an issue unlikely to be restricted to flu and Covid. Jacqueline Miller, Moderna’s head of infectious disease development, said the group's RSV candidate displayed a similar adverse event profile to the rest of the vaccine platform. The next dataset to scrutinise will be cytomegalovirus – data from a 6,900-patient trial are due towards the end of 2022. Meanwhile, the company is also investing heavily in next-gen Covid offerings, but the pandemic windfall will end, and Moderna still needs to prove that it has a technology capable of competing in less urgent circumstances.