Moderna hopes to market a combination of COVID and flu boosters by 2023 – POLITICO

Moderna hopes to bring to market a combination booster vaccine for COVID-19, influenza and RSV – a common respiratory virus – as soon as fall 2023, CEO Stéphane Bancel said. on Monday.

Bancel, speaking during a panel at the World Economic Forum, said the combination vaccines would allow people to be broadly protected against respiratory viral illnesses before the contagion season. without the need for multiple injections.

“Our goal is to be able to have a booster shot every year so we don’t run into compliance issues where people don’t want two to three shots a winter,” Bancel said. “The best-case scenario would be the fall of 2023.”

Bancel tell investors Last September, Moderna was working on a booster that combines their mRNA vaccine for COVID-19, a vaccine the company is developing to fight the flu and possibly a dose to treat it. respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV.

He told the panel that the discussion of the COVID booster is currently in phase three trials, while the flu vaccine being developed – which also uses mRNA technology – will be in phase two to three trials. experience in the second quarter. Investors sold off Moderna stock after an update in December showed that it produced levels of antibodies against all four strains of influenza virus in an early-stage study in older adults that were not as robust as an existing Sanofi flu shot.

Moderna plans to ship 2 to 3 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccine this year, Bancel confirmed, after 807 million in 2021. The company is currently consulting with health officials about the composition of the dose of the COVID-19 vaccine to be used this fall.