RCS - Moderna Inc - CEPI & Moderna Harness MRNA to Advance Mission

ModernaAnnouncement

30/10/2023 07:15

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RNS Number : 6212R  Moderna Inc  30 October 2023

CEPI AND MODERNA HARNESS MRNA TECHNOLOGY TO ADVANCE 100 DAYS MISSION

New partnership will harness Moderna's mRNA rapid-response platform,
clinically validated during the COVID-19 pandemic, to accelerate epidemic and
pandemic vaccine development

 

First project will enable rapid pre-clinical testing of antigen designs for
high-risk viral families, to advance global outbreak readiness

 

CAMBRIDGE, MA / ACCESSWIRE / October 30, 2023 / The Coalition for Epidemic
Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA) have entered
into a strategic partnership
(https://cepi.net/news_cepi/partnering-to-deliver-the-100-days-mission/) that
will harness Moderna's mRNA platform to accelerate the development of vaccines
against viral disease outbreaks that threaten global health. The work
undertaken as part of this partnership could expand the infectious disease
targets for mRNA vaccine technology and strengthen pandemic preparedness and
public health efforts in alignment with the 100 Days Mission
(https://cepi.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/CEPI-100-Days-Report-Digital-Version_29-11-22.pdf?swcfpc=1)
, a global goal to compress vaccine development timelines to 100 days.

mRNA technology has been identified
(https://cepi.net/news_cepi/what-will-it-take-global-coalition-outlines-how-to-beat-the-next-disease-x-pandemic-in-100-days/)
as a pivotal enabler of the 100 Days Mission due to its flexibility as a
rapid-response platform on which new vaccine candidates can be designed and
quickly made ready for clinical testing and subsequent scale-up, potentially
within days from the moment a new viral threat is identified. Moderna's
leading mRNA platform has enabled the development of a highly effective
COVID-19 vaccine, which has subsequently been approved by multiple stringent
regulatory authorities worldwide.

Dr Richard Hatchett, CEO of CEPI, said: "Future outbreaks are inevitable, but
another pandemic is not. Thanks to the scientific and technological
innovations advanced during COVID-19, the world now has the tools and
capabilities to prevent the next outbreak from spiraling into a global
catastrophe. Chief among them is the now proven mRNA vaccine technology, which
can be used to develop safe and effective vaccines with remarkable speed that
can be rapidly manufactured at scale. Our partnership with Moderna will
harness the company's clinically validated mRNA platform and its world-leading
team of scientists to help prepare to respond to future epidemic and pandemic
threats in as little as 100 days."

Stéphane Bancel, CEO of Moderna, said: "We are pleased to announce our
strategic partnership with CEPI, harnessing the power of Moderna's mRNA
platform to accelerate the development of mRNA vaccines against viral disease
outbreaks that pose global public health threats. Our mRNA Access program
reinforces our dedication to public health by offering researchers the
opportunity to utilize our mRNA technology in the development of vaccines for
emerging and neglected infectious diseases. We believe this program can play a
key role in helping the next generation of researchers and engineers to
advance mRNA science."

Selecting successful pandemic vaccine designs

The partnership will kick off with an initial project to evaluate the
performance of novel AI-generated antigen designs and mRNA technology against
a range of viral families that carry the greatest risk of causing the next
pandemic. Building upon Moderna's existing mRNA Access
(https://mrna-access.modernatx.com/access) program, CEPI-funded vaccine
researchers will send their cutting-edge computational antigen designs to
Moderna, who will rapidly manufacture the related vaccine candidates using
Moderna's mRNA platform technology to provide material for preclinical testing
funded by CEPI.

 

The project will enable CEPI-funded researchers to swiftly test multiple
antigen designs targeting a specific viral family and quickly identify which,
if any, are most promising. It will also generate data on the performance of
mRNA vaccine technology against selected viral families and assess the
suitability and effectiveness of mRNA for different disease targets. This
would contribute vital scientific knowledge to inform further vaccine
development targets and could give the world a headstart in response to future
emerging outbreaks to advance the 100 Days Mission.

CEPI and Moderna will discuss additional vaccine development projects which
fall under the remit of this strategic partnership, with further announcements
to follow in due course.

Enabling Equitable Access

CEPI and Moderna are committed to enabling equitable access to the outputs of
this strategic partnership. CEPI will retain rights to antigen designs which
have been generated using CEPI funding, with CEPI-funded partners committed to
submitting their data generated by this project for publication in open-access
journals for the benefit of the global scientific community.

Any licensed vaccines developed as a result of this strategic partnership are
expected to be made available at affordable prices in low- and middle-income
countries.

CEPI and Moderna

CEPI and Moderna first worked together in early 2020
(https://cepi.net/news_cepi/cepi-to-fund-three-programmes-to-develop-vaccines-against-the-novel-coronavirus-ncov-2019/)
, when CEPI provided early catalytic investment of $0.9 million to support the
production of Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine (mRNA-1273).

About CEPI 

CEPI is an innovative partnership between public, private, philanthropic, and
civil organisations, launched at Davos in 2017. Its mission is to accelerate
the development of vaccines and other biologic countermeasures against
epidemic and pandemic threats so they can be accessible to all people in
need.

 

CEPI has supported the development of over 30 vaccine candidates against its
priority pathogens-Chikungunya virus, Ebola Virus Disease, Lassa virus, Middle
East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus, Nipah virus, Rift Valley Fever virus
and SARS-CoV-2-and is a leading funder of research into broadly protective
coronavirus vaccines, which could protect against future variants of COVID-19
as well as other coronaviruses with epidemic and pandemic potential. The
organization has also invested in the development of rapid response platforms
to develop vaccines against Disease X (the threat of an unknown virus).

 

CEPI has overseen a number of scientific breakthroughs, including the first
Phase 3 trial of a Chikungunya vaccine and the advancement of the first ever
Nipah and Lassa vaccines into Phase 1 trials. The organization played a
central role in the global response to COVID-19, supporting the development of
one of the world's largest portfolios of vaccines against SARS-CoV-2, seven of
which have been approved for domestic or global use. It also co-led COVAX, the
global initiative to deliver fair and equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines,
which has delivered approximately 2 billion doses of vaccine to 146 countries
around the world.

 

CEPI's five-year plan for 2022-2026
(https://cepi.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/20211201-CEPI-2022-2026-Strategy.pdf)
aims to dramatically reduce or even eliminate the future risk of pandemics and
epidemics. Central to the plan is CEPI's goal to compress the time taken to
develop safe, effective, globally accessible vaccines against new threats to
just 100 days. Achieving this '100 Days Mission'
(https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/KPs6CpYn57C4N7RNCPGe-Y?domain=100days.cepi.net/)
, which has been embraced by the G7 and G20, would give the world a fighting
chance of containing a future outbreak before it can spread to become a global
pandemic.

 

Visit our news page
(https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/0Hi-Cqxo4DuYPVMPsXpNPu?domain=cepi.net)
 for the latest updates. Follow us via @CEPIvaccines
(https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/7xOFCrkp4XHQ0WB0c49IYh?domain=twitter.com)
, @DrRHatchett
(https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/QgbnCv2w4DuwjRkjsAJSgR?domain=twitter.com)
, LinkedIn
(https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/Fc84Cwpx4Zulz2wzi17Cjs?domain=linkedin.com/)
, and Facebook
(https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/jgCdCxky49HE4zW4cWxqDu?domain=facebook.com)
.

 

About Moderna

In over 10 years since its inception, Moderna has transformed from a
research-stage company advancing programs in the field of messenger RNA
(mRNA), to an enterprise with a diverse clinical portfolio of vaccines and
therapeutics across seven modalities, a broad intellectual property portfolio
and integrated manufacturing facilities that allow for rapid clinical and
commercial production at scale. Moderna maintains alliances with a broad range
of domestic and overseas government and commercial collaborators, which has
allowed for the pursuit of both groundbreaking science and rapid scaling of
manufacturing. Most recently, Moderna's capabilities have come together to
allow the authorized use and approval of one of the earliest and most
effective vaccines against the COVID-19 pandemic.

Moderna's mRNA platform builds on continuous advances in basic and applied
mRNA science, delivery technology and manufacturing, and has allowed the
development of therapeutics and vaccines for infectious diseases,
immuno-oncology, rare diseases, cardiovascular diseases and auto-immune
diseases. Moderna has been named a top biopharmaceutical employer by Science
for the past eight years. To learn more, visit www.modernatx.com
(http://www.modernatx.com) .

Moderna forward-looking statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of
the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, as amended, including
regarding: Moderna and CEPI entering a strategic partnership to harness
Moderna's mRNA platform to accelerate the development of vaccines against
viral disease outbreaks that threaten global health. The forward-looking
statements in this press release are neither promises nor guarantees, and you
should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements because
they involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors, many
of which are beyond Moderna's control and which could cause actual results to
differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking
statements. These risks, uncertainties, and other factors include those other
risks and uncertainties described under the heading "Risk Factors" in
Moderna's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022,
filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and in subsequent
filings made by Moderna with the SEC, which are available on the SEC's website
at www.sec.gov. Except as required by law, Moderna disclaims any intention or
responsibility for updating or revising any forward-looking statements
contained in this press release in the event of new information, future
developments or otherwise. These forward-looking statements are based on
Moderna's current expectations and speak only as of the date of this press
release.

 

 

 

 Contact Details

CEPI

press@cepi.net

+44 7387 055214

 

Moderna

Media:

Luke Mircea-Willats

Senior Director, International Communications

Luke.mirceawillats@modernatx.com

 

Investors:

Lavina Talukdar

Senior Vice President & Head of Investor Relations

617-209-5834

Lavina.Talukdar@modernatx.com (mailto:Lavina.Talukdar@modernatx.com)

 

SOURCE: Moderna, Inc.

 

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