“We want to have vaccines against the 15 infectious diseases with the greatest impact on global health in the trial phase in 2025″

The coronavirus pandemic has consolidated messenger RNA vaccines as one of the great advances in medicine in recent decades.

Millions of lives have been saved thanks to a technology 30 years in the making that has now made an extraordinary leap into the real world.

Unlike classic vaccines, which generate the immune response by inoculating an inactivated pathogen (or a part of it) into the body, this serum does so by means of an RNA molecule created in the laboratory that orders the cells of the body to produce a protein, which is what activates the defenses.

Moderna has been, together with BioNTech (the latter associated with Pfizer), one of the two companies that have led this race, whose managers now want to continue focusing on 15 other infectious diseases.

Question

.

What strategy does Moderna propose for this phase of the pandemic?

Answer

.

We have investigated all the variants and possible vaccines against them.

We have come to the conclusion that the best strategy is to develop a vaccine with the original variant from Wuhan and also the omicron.

Trials show that the Wuhan one offers good cross-protection against the beta and delta variants, but less against the omicron.

Q.

When will this version of the vaccine be ready?

R.

It is in the clinical trial phase and in the fall we hope that it can already be used.

It is important to protect against both variants because the one from Wuhan continues to circulate in many parts of the world that do not have the vaccination coverage of countries like Spain.

In addition, if another variant emerges that evolves from the previous ones, the protection would be greater in the short term while we develop a more specific vaccine.

P.

How do these forecasts fit with the vaccination plans underway?

R.

The omicron variant has a great capacity for transmission even among people who have been vaccinated or who have been infected with other variants, although with milder clinical symptoms.

Many of these people who get infected now will have to wait five months in Spain to receive the third dose.

In some cases, depending on the schedule, they could already receive the new version.

Another group is that of groups at risk, immunosuppressed or older than a certain age.

The drop in antibody levels observed six months after the last dose may require another booster [which would be the fourth].

This is something that the health administrations will have to decide according to the available evidence.

P.

Are we going to end the circulation of the virus?

A.

I don't think so.

It will continue to circulate among humans, at least in parts of the world, and there is a risk that some animals will become reservoirs.

In Hong Kong there has been an outbreak caused by hamsters.

Q.

The vaccines against the coronavirus, Moderna's too, have caused side effects in some people.

What have you learned to minimize them?

R.

We are learning a lot.

Vaccines, like any drug, have side effects.

The important thing is that, with 807 million inoculated doses, we have seen that they affect very few people and that they are almost always mild.

One of the most worrying, myocarditis and pericarditis, more common in young men, is much less frequent with the third dose.

We continue to work and analyze cases, because with the pharmacovigilance services we have a lot of information.

It is important to remember that, with such a large campaign, it is common for clinical symptoms to occur close to the time of vaccination and the first thing to do is to know if there is a causal relationship or if it is casual.

P.

One of the criticisms that has been made of pharmaceutical companies is that they do not release patents to accelerate the vaccination campaign around the world.

A.

Moderna has reiterated that it will never pursue the use of its patent-protected technology in the Gavi Covax AMC program for vaccines destined for 92 low- and middle-income countries.

Nor will we do it with the rest while the pandemic lasts, although when it ends, logically, we will defend intellectual property because as a company it would not make sense for us not to do so.

In addition, we are developing our global strategy that foresees formulas so that the benefits of messenger RNA technology serve to face the threat posed by the main infectious diseases.

One of the main objectives is to extend our portfolio of projects to have vaccines in the trial phase in 2025 against the 15 infectious diseases with the greatest impact on global health.

Q.

What diseases are they?

A.

HIV, tuberculosis, malaria, chikungunya, Zika, dengue, Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever, Ebola, Marburg hemorrhagic fever, Lassa fever, MERS, Nipah, Rift Valley and severe fever with thrombocytopenic syndrome.

To them, we add the so-called 'disease X', a new virus that could cause a future pandemic.

We cannot know how it will be, but we can be prepared to offer a response as quickly as possible.

Q.

You haven't mentioned the flu.

A.

We already have the flu vaccine in trial.

The forecast is that they will be completed next year.

P.

The diseases that you have mentioned are very different from each other...

R.

Yes. And many of them barely have an impact on developed countries, but they do have an impact on hundreds of millions of people who live in the most disadvantaged.

We are a young company [Moderna was founded in 2010] and relatively small, and this goal is a true declaration of intent about our commitment to global health.

In some cases, these are diseases whose return in economic terms will not be very great, but we are aware that they represent a very important scourge in areas of our planet.

We are convinced that many vaccines will succeed because our technology gives us a high chance of success.

Q.

What makes you so sure?

A.

We work with prototypes in which there are processes that are common and, therefore, you know that if they have worked for you in one case, they will also work in others.

That allows you to speed up development.

The classic system of developing vaccines starts almost from scratch in any new project and here you start almost half way.

Q.

Will you also share your knowledge?

R.

We want to do it, that our technology and knowledge allow us to develop solutions for the needs in developing countries.

Q.

But will they open it up to all researchers or will they seek compromises to keep it under their umbrella?

R.

It will depend on each case.

From the research teams and local capacities in each place, we have to see what we can contribute.

The concept is an opening of doors in knowledge to speed up processes and have more people sharing and contributing ideas.

This has been one of the great lessons learned from the pandemic.

P.

It is not common to share knowledge in the sector...

A.

Virtue is in balance.

The company wants to expand production capacity to reach more sites and new solutions.

Which is not incompatible with the benefits.

You could maximize them, but what it is about is receiving and giving to society.

The company is not going to stop making money.

It is listed, investors have confidence because they see the results and they also share this more humanistic profile.

A first step is the start-up of a factory in Kenya with a planned investment of 500 million euros.

P.

What role will Spain have in the production of Moderna's vaccines?

A.

We already have an agreement with Rovi to manufacture the coronavirus vaccine in Granada.

This platform could also be used to service Moderna's future mRNA vaccines.

Exclusive content for subscribers

read without limits

subscribe

I'm already a subscriber