Moderna distributed the first doses of an mRNA-based flu vaccine to participants in a Phase 1 clinical trial. This serum, called mRNA-1010 , is designed to target four strains of influenza virus circulating seasonally each year.
mRNA vaccines against Covid-19 rely on capsules of fatty nanoparticles to deliver fragments of genetic code into our cells in the form of messenger RNA of the protein spike of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. These genetic extracts are then "read" by our cells which then produce the protein fragment. This is then used to train the immune system to detect and destroy the virus.
The idea of mRNA-based vaccines has been dragging the halls of laboratories for many years, but certain obstacles, mainly financial, have long prevented their development. Everything finally accelerated with the Covid-19 pandemic thanks to an unprecedented pecuniary investment. Finally, the high efficiencies of the mRNA vaccines made by Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech confirmed what many had long suspected:the technique works. And it works pretty well.
So, if before the COVID-19 pandemic mRNA vaccines were still experimental, today they represent the future of vaccination. The fight against other types of infectious diseases could particularly benefit from this, starting with the flu.
Moderna has indeed just begun a Phase 1 clinical trial of an mRNA-based flu vaccine, the company announced on Wednesday. The vaccine, called mRNA-1010, will be tested on about 180 people . At the end of the trial, researchers will examine the serum's safety, how well it works at different doses, and immune responses.
The reason we keep getting flu every year is because the virus keeps mutating , with multiple strains present in the environment at any given time.
In an effort to produce an annual vaccine, epidemiologists target the few strains that seem most prevalent from year to year. The idea is to grow them in cell cultures or chicken eggs and then kill the virus so that it is no longer dangerous. The latter is then introduced into our body so that our immune system can get to know it, and therefore recognize it afterwards.
Unfortunately, it takes a long time to grow a virus, so companies need to start developing their vaccines about six months in advance , depending on the predictions around the influenza strain that will circulate that year. In the end, the flu vaccines available each year are generally only effective at a maximum of 60% . Pharmaceutical companies hope that mRNA-based influenza vaccines can be developed faster and be more effective than traditional vaccines.
Note that Moderna isn't the only group testing an mRNA flu vaccine in human trials. Sanofi and Translate Bio have also launched a trial this summer. On the other hand, Moderna seems to want to go further by offering combined vaccines in the future. able to protect against influenza, COVID-19 and other respiratory infections in one shot. “Our vision is to develop a combination mRNA vaccine so that people can be injected every fall for high efficacy protection against the most problematic respiratory viruses “, said in a press release Stéphane Bancel, CEO of the company.
