Moderna is eyeing testing two vaccine candidates, one for mpox and another for bird flu, in humans later this year, Bloomberg reported March 6.
The drugmaker's president, Stephen Hoge, MD, said Moderna is searching for more pharmaceutical uses for mRNA technology, which Moderna and Pfizer use in their COVID-19 vaccines. After completing initial work, Dr. Hoge told Bloomberg the company plans to begin human trials for the two potential vaccines in 2023.
If approved, another mpox vaccine could help in case another outbreak happens since there is only one vaccine in the world currently approved for mpox. Other drugmakers are also working toward solutions to bird flu as two human cases have been confirmed.
Dr. Hoge also told the news outlet that Moderna is preparing to make two COVID-19 boosters if countries have different variants they want targeted in a bivalent vaccine.