Moderna announced that HHS is withdrawing millions of dollars it had pledged to support the company’s efforts to develop a human avian flu vaccine.
During the Biden administration, HHS announced plans to provide Moderna with $176 million last summer followed by another $590 million in January. With 70 human cases of avian flu reported last year, federal health officials had framed the investment as a key part of preparing for future pandemics.
The vaccine, known as mRNA-1018, is being tested in about 300 healthy adults ages 18 and older, according to a May 28 news release from the drugmaker.
According to the company, only 2.1% of participants had protective antibody levels at the start of the study and by day 43, 97.8% of participants reached hemagglutination inhibition titers associated with protection against infection. In total, antibody levels increased more than 44-fold from the baseline.
Despite positive clinical results, Moderna announced HHS had opted to terminate the award agreement, with funding intended to support late-stage development and secure a government purchase option for the vaccine in case of another pandemic.
“While the termination of funding from HHS adds uncertainty, we are pleased by the robust immune response and safety profile observed in this interim analysis of the Phase 1/2 study of our H5 avian flu vaccine and we will explore alternative paths forward for the program,” said Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel. “These clinical data in pandemic influenza underscore the critical role mRNA technology has played as a countermeasure to emerging health threats.”
