By Emma Koehn
Moderna’s promise of a combined coronavirus-influenza shot throws down a challenge to Australian biotech giant CSL as the next heat of the vaccine race threatens to be a “disruptor”.
The chief of US pharmaceutical Moderna, Stephane Bancel, says CSL is at risk of losing its competitive edge in the influenza vaccine market once Messenger-RNA technology takes hold in the industry and a “cocktail of mRNAs” becomes available.
Bancel, who was in Melbourne last week to visit the site of his company’s planned vaccine manufacturing plant at Monash University, said Moderna’s vision for the Australian market went well beyond its current coronavirus vaccines.
Moderna chief Stephane Bancel wants to develop an annual respiratory virus booster that protects against COVID, flu and other viruses.
“Our vision is quite simple. It’s to develop an annual respiratory virus booster that has COVID, flu, RSV [respiratory syncytial virus] and a couple more [viruses], that is adapted for the strain of the year… and adapted for the strain in Australia,” he said.
Such a combined shot would present a challenge to CSL, which has traditionally made its influenza vaccines by growing viruses in chicken eggs, and has expanded this to a cell-based approach that will be the focus of its new vaccine plant being built at Tullamarine.
Messenger-RNA based products deliver information to cells instructing them how to mount an immune response to viruses, and can be made faster than traditional methods of vaccine production.
While CSL is also working on a flu vaccine using messenger-RNA technology, it is in the early stages of development, while Moderna is expecting data from the phase 3 study of its flu shot in the coming months, which could pave the way to launching in the next year.
Bancel said influenza shots using mRNA had several advantages over egg-based vaccines and those grown using the cells of mammals because they can more easily adapt to emerging variants of disease to make sure people have the most targeted protection each year.
“The piece that is really amazing about mRNA is the speed,” he said.
He said once this new generation of flu vaccines hits the market, he expects governments to prefer these over other products.
“I don’t understand how governments, and payers and people, will want egg-based products when you can get a cocktail of mRNAs.”
If Moderna’s format of flu shots were to become mainstream, that could well cut CSL’s competitive edge in the region, he said.
“That is what I believe — and this can happen with industries all the time,” he said.
“The electric car coming and disrupting petrol cars, or Netflix coming and disrupting DVDs. I think that mRNA is a very large disruptor to the protein-based business.”
CSL has been clear over the past few years that it is focused on innovation in the flu space and will prioritise proven technologies while developing a potential flu product using mRNA.
“Cell-based technology represents a significant innovation in influenza vaccine manufacturing. Furthermore, cell-based vaccines are already widely used, and have proven to be a safe, effective and cost-efficient way to protect public health,” a spokesperson for the company said.
CSL chief executive Paul Perreault has previously said he was happy to see Moderna go its own way with developing new mRNA products, noting that CSL’s portfolio of medicines extends well beyond vaccines.
The masthead reported last week that Health Minister Mark Butler said the federal government was yet to strike a 2023 supply deal with Moderna for COVID vaccines into the new year.
Bancel confirmed this but said the government was eager to secure doses and he believed a deal could be struck in time.
“I am confident that if we get things done quickly, and we can, we should be able to guarantee supply for ’23,” he said.
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