Moderna is working on vaccines against the most dangerous viruses and pathogens. By 2025, the company wants to start testing the preparations on humans. That’s all it takes to be ready for the next possible pandemic.
- The world is still struggling with the coronavirus pandemic, it’s been over two years
- At the same time, from time to time, information about new cases or outbreaks of diseases appearing on the World Health Organization’s list of pathogens with the greatest epidemic potential
- Moderna, a company known for developing a vaccine against COVID-19, has decided to face the threat
- Moderna’s boss announced the start of research on the 15 most dangerous pathogens that can cause further epidemics or pandemics
- More information can be found on the Onet homepage
Moderna is getting ready for a new pandemic
Moderny CEO Stephane Bancel announced in early March that the company was starting work to be ready in the event of another virus pandemic. The research is to cover the 15 most dangerous pathogens.
Which viruses will be included in the research? This includes Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) – A close cousin of SARS-CoV-2, Ebola and Marburg viruses, the tick-borne virus that causes Crimean Congo haemorrhagic fever, and mosquito-borne viruses that cause diseases such as chikungunya and dengue fever.
Moderna also announced the opening of a vaccine factory in Kenya, which will be able to produce 500 million doses per year, but the company has not specified which vaccines will be produced there.
“From the beginning, we focused on developing a global health immunization program,” said Stephane Bancel. – Now we are returning to this policy, extending our efforts to develop vaccines against the most dangerous pathogens that threaten global health.
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As Bancel emphasized, the development of a COVID-19 vaccine was not complicated, but it took Moderna six months to develop a dose and safety profile before starting the final stage of the study. Now the company’s focus will be to prepare the world for the next pandemic. First of all, it wants to develop an initial dose and determine the level of safety of vaccines against the most dangerous viruses. So that – as the head of Moderna announced – “in a situation where one of these viruses or his relative causes an epidemic, the company will have a vaccine prototype at hand and on its basis will be able to immediately start research on effectiveness in humans”.
“Knowing the correct dose of the vaccine is crucial,” said Bancel. “When a new virus comes out, we can save a lot of time when we have vaccines tested against viruses similar to this new one.
Moderna versus the most dangerous viruses
The development of vaccines against pathogens on the WHO list of viruses with the potential to cause a new global epidemic is another part of Moderna’s efforts to create the broadest possible list of preparations to fight infectious diseases.
A few weeks ago, the company announced that it had started clinical trials of HIV and Zika vaccines. Work is also underway on a vaccine against Nipah, a deadly bat-borne virus that causes periodic epidemics in Asia. Moderna also took a closer look at two other serious diseases that are not caused by viruses, i.e. malaria and tuberculosis. As part of the next program, scientists from outside the company will research whether Moderna’s technology can be used against other regional or slightly forgotten diseases.
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All of this could cost Moderna $ 300 million. Bancel announced that the company is looking for external partners, but it will not be possible to find them, the company will not stop working on vaccines against all 15 diseases.
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The company also reminded that it will not pursue its rights under patents on the preparation against COVID-19 from manufacturers from 92 poorest countries, provided that the vaccines are produced only for use in these countries.
See also:
- Ranking of the most dangerous zoonotic viruses. Can they trigger another pandemic?
- Coronavirus is not the first. The biggest epidemics in recent years
- This could trigger a new pandemic. The most dangerous viruses according to WHO [NEW PANDEMIC?]
- A new disease transmitted by ticks. In the US, the Heartland virus has already killed several people