Moderna Unveils Three New mRNA Vaccine Programs

Aiming to build on the success of its COVID-19 mRNA vaccine Spikevax, Moderna has announced the addition of three new vaccine programs to its mRNA pipeline. 

The announced candidates are: 

• mRNA-1608, a vaccine candidate against Herpes simplex virus (HSV)
• mRNA-1468, a vaccine candidate against varicella-zoster virus (VZV) to reduce the rate of herpes zoster (shingles)
• mRNA-4359, a new checkpoint cancer vaccine

Besides the new additions, Moderna is also developing vaccines against cytomegalovirus (CMV) and Epstein-Barr virus (EBV). 

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Vaccines Against HSV and VZV

HSV can infect a person via the mouth, face and genitals, establishing lifelong infection in sensory neurons, where they could lie dormant for many years. When reactivated, they could re-infect the skin. 

While HSV causes great healthcare burden, there are currently no approved vaccines against HSV. Two drug giants, Sanofi and GlaxoSmithKline, have begun clinical trials for their candidates against HSV.   

Moderna’s HSV candidate (mRNA-1608) targets HSV-2, a type of the virus that mainly infects the genitals. Moderna expects that a HSV-2 vaccine could offer cross-protection against HSV-1, which infects the mouth, face and genitals. The company said that its candidate will provide similar efficacy as antiviral treatments while improving compliance and quality of life. 

The other Moderna candidate, mRNA-1468, is designed for VZV. VZV causes chickenpox in children and young adults, and shingles (herpes zoster) in adults. Like HSV, VZV infects the neurons, and reactivation of the virus results in painful and itchy lesions and possibly more severe complications such as nerve damage. 

There are only two approved vaccines for the prevention of shingles: Zostavax, a live attenuated vaccine developed by Merck, and Shingrix, a subunit protein vaccine developed by GlaxoSmithKline. 

mRNA-1468 expresses VZV glycoprotein E (gE) to reduce the rate of shingles. Moderna has published preclinical data on an mRNA vaccine encoding for the VZV gE antigen. 

Related Article: Moderna Enters Gene Editing Market with Metagenomi Collaboration

Stimulating T Cell Response with Checkpoint Cancer Vaccine

Moderna’s checkpoint cancer vaccine candidate (mRNA-4359) expresses Indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO) and programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) antigens. 

“With our new checkpoint cancer vaccine, we look forward to exploring if we can induce T cells specific to PD-L1 and IDO1 through vaccination,” stated Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel.

According to Moderna, stimulated effector T cells will target and kill suppressive immune and tumor cells expressing the target antigens. 

Initial indications for mRNA-4359 will include advanced or metastatic cutaneous melanoma and non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC), said the company. 

Author

Joy Lin

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