Moderna hopes to launch an approved version of its combination Covid-19 and flu vaccine by fall 2023, the CEO of the biotech company said Monday.
Stéphane Bancel said Moderna (ticker: MRNA), one of the leading makers of Covid-19 vaccines, was aiming to get its combo Covid-19 vaccine available in multiple countries in the next 18 months or so.
Along with immunizing people against Covid-19 and the flu, the jab also would target respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), which is a common virus that typically causes cold-like symptoms.
“Our goal is to be able to have a single annual booster, so that we don’t have compliance issues where people don’t want to get two to three shots a winter, but to get one dose where they get a booster for Corona and a booster for flu and RSV,” Bancel said.
In a best-case scenario, Bancel said, the vaccine would be available in some countries by the fall of 2023.
Moderna, like the Pfizer (PFE) and BioNTech (BNTX) partnership, developed a Covid-19 vaccine using advanced messenger RNA (mRNA) drug technology, which is different from the technology underpinning conventional vaccines.
The company — and its shareholders — hope for future growth from more mRNA vaccines, like that for the common flu. But data from a Phase 1 study of its mRNA flu shot disappointed investors in December, and Bancel has since moved to reset expectations about the vaccine.
Speaking at a Davos Agenda panel — a series of virtual talks taking the place of the annual World Economic Forum meeting, which was postponed from this week until early summer — Bancel further detailed progress on a combo shot.
The RSV vaccine is in Phase 3 and the flu vaccine is in Phase 2, he said, though the flu shot should be in Phase 3 by the second quarter of this year.
Bancel appeared on the Davos panel with Dr. Anthony Fauci, the chief medical adviser to President Joe Biden, and other Covid-19 experts.
Moderna stock was not trading in the U.S. Monday, with markets closed in observanceof the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday.
Comments