Moderna Announces Funding Award from CEPI to Accelerate Development of mRNA Vaccine Against Novel Coronavirus

Moderna, Inc. a clinical stage biotechnology company pioneering messenger RNA (mRNA) therapeutics and vaccines to create a new generation of transformative medicines for patients, and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), announced a new collaboration to develop an mRNA vaccine against the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV).

Under the terms of the agreement, Moderna will manufacture an mRNA vaccine against 2019-nCoV, which will be funded by CEPI. The Vaccine Research Center (VRC) of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of NIH, collaborated with Moderna to design the vaccine. NIAID will conduct IND-enabling studies and a Phase 1 clinical study in the U.S.

Over the past four years Moderna has had six positive Phase 1 clinical readouts in its prophylactic vaccines modality and moved two additional programs into development. Moderna’s technology platform, fully integrated manufacturing site and development experience, combined with a multi-year relationship with the NIH, including exploring ways to respond to public health threats, allows for the rapid identification and advancement of a vaccine candidate against 2019-nCoV.

“Moderna’s commitment to global public health is aligned with CEPI’s vision of creating a world in which epidemics are no longer a threat to humanity,” said Richard Hatchett, M.D., CEO of CEPI. “We are pleased with the pace of our combined response to the emerging threat of the novel coronavirus. Through our partnership with Moderna and the NIH, we hope to speed the development of a vaccine against the coronavirus and help to alleviate the burden of disease.”

“We believe our mRNA vaccine technology offers potential advantages in the speed of development and production scalability, which positions Moderna to potentially develop a vaccine against coronavirus, 2019-nCoV,” said Stéphane Bancel, CEO of Moderna. “Advances in global public health require the collective effort of public-private partnerships – no organization can act alone. We are honored to be supporting NIH and CEPI in their mission to identify a potential vaccine to prevent infection. It is impressive that CEPI was able to commit to this grant in a matter of days. We are thankful for the financial support from CEPI and the multi-year scientific collaboration we have with the NIH.”