Moderna’s Annual COVID-Flu Booster Dose ‘Not Until Fall’ 2023

Moderna estimates that it can offer its annual booster dose against both COVID-19, influenza and RSV (respiratory syncytial virus, infecting the lungs and respiratory tract) “at best in the fall of 2023”, has said its chief executive on Monday.

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“Best case scenario it will be in the fall of 2023. I don’t think it will be in all countries, but we are confident it is possible in some countries next year,” said Stéphane Bancel, the general manager of the laboratory that manufactures one of the two most effective COVID-19 vaccines based on messenger RNA technology.

He indicated, during a virtual round table of the World Economic Forum, that the trials for RSV were in phase III (which makes it possible to evaluate the therapeutic interest of the treatment on a much larger number of patients) and that those messenger RNA vaccine against influenza were in phase II (which demonstrates the efficacy of the treatment).

Mr. Bancel hopes to move into phase II for the latter “from the second quarter of this year”.

For him, this effort to combine protection against several diseases in a single vaccine must also make it possible to overcome the reluctance of the population.

“Our goal is to have a single annual “booster” so that we don’t have a problem with adherence with people who don’t want to receive two or three injections per winter, but to have a booster dose for the coronavirus. and recall for influenza and RSV, to ensure that people get vaccinated,” explained the French official.

He also mentioned the production capacity, recalling that in 2021 Moderna had delivered 807 million doses.

“And we continue to increase capacity – with a significant increase in production in the 1st quarter of this year – and with the objective of producing 2 to 3 billion doses this year”, he specified.

On Dec. 10, Moderna announced positive early results from clinical trials of its flu vaccine, using messenger RNA technology.

The vaccine being tested targets the most common influenza A subtypes known as H1N1 and H3N2, as well as influenza B, Yamagata and Victoria lineages.

The biotechnology company – which made a name for itself thanks to its anti-COVID vaccine and whose activities have literally exploded – generated a net profit of 7.3 billion dollars in the first nine months of 2021, against a loss of $474 million over the same period of 2020.

The company’s revenue jumped just as dramatically, from $232 million in the January-September 2020 period, to $11.3 billion in the same period a year later.

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