Biotech Values

[DewDiligence]

PFE starts phase-3 trial of mRNA-based flu vaccine:

https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220914005130/en

Each year, even when currently available vaccine strains match circulating influenza virus strains well, those vaccines typically confer only 40% to 60% protection, with even lower protection in years with poor matching of strains. With circulating influenza strains continually changing, predicting the best match for the next season’s vaccine is difficult for global health experts as those strains are chosen more than six months before the start of the influenza season that they target.

The flexibility of mRNA technology and its rapid manufacturing could potentially allow better strain matches in future years, and in a pandemic influenza situation, mRNA technology could allow rapid, large-scale manufacturing of vaccines. mRNA-based influenza vaccines require only the genetic sequence of the virus.

This is a full-fledged efficacy trial (i.e. not just an immunogenicity trial) that will enroll 25,000 subjects.