Moderna gets $590 million for bird flu mRNA vaccine development

Moderna has been awarded a grant of $590 million to advance the development of its Influenza A(H5N1) vaccine.

The project will provide additional support for late-stage development and licensure of pre-pandemic mRNA-based vaccines. The agreement will also support the expansion of clinical studies for up to five additional subtypes of pandemic influenza.

This is in addition to $176 million awarded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) last year to complete the late-stage development and testing of a pre-pandemic mRNA-based vaccine against the Influenza A(H5N1).

Already in 2023, Moderna initiated a Phase 1/2 study to generate safety and immunogenicity data of an investigational pandemic influenza vaccine (mRNA-1018) in healthy adults aged 18 years and older. The study included vaccine candidates against H5 and H7 avian influenza viruses. Based on the positive preliminary data from the Phase 1/2 study, Moderna is preparing to advance mRNA-1018 into Phase 3. The Company looks forward to sharing the Phase 1/2 results at an upcoming scientific meeting.

"Avian flu variants have proven to be particularly unpredictable and dangerous to humans in the past. Accelerating the development of new vaccines will allow us to stay ahead and ensure that Americans have the tools they need to stay safe," HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said in a statement.

At the moment, nearly 70 people in the U.S., most of them farmworkers, have contracted the Influenza A(H5N1) virus since April 2023, as the virus has circulated among poultry flocks and dairy herds.

Most infections in humans have been mild, but one fatality was reported in Louisiana. The risk to the general public from bird flu is still considered low, and there has been no evidence of person to person spread. Yet.