CNN – The US Department of Health and Human Services will award $590 million to Moderna to continue developing a vaccine to protect against bird flu, the pharmaceutical company announced Friday.
This colorized electron microscope image released by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases on March 26, 2024, shows avian influenza A H5N1 virus particles, shown in yellow, grown in Madin-Darby Canine Kidney (MDCK) epithelial cells, shown in blue.
In 2023, Moderna initiated a study on a “pandemic influenza vaccine” to protect against H5 and H7 avian influenza viruses. In July, the company received $176 million from HHS toward its vaccine efforts.
Moderna plans to advance research on the mRNA vaccine into a phase 3 trial after receiving positive results in earlier phases, which it plans to present at a scientific conference in the near future.
“Avian flu variants have proven to be particularly unpredictable and dangerous to humans in the past. That is why this response has been a top priority for the Biden-Harris Administration and HHS,” HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said in a statement Friday.
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“Accelerating the development of new vaccines will allow us to stay ahead and ensure that Americans have the tools they need to stay safe.”
Avian influenza, or bird flu, is a broad term that refers to several types of influenza that normally infect birds.
The H5N1 virus has raised concern among health officials because it has sickened dozens of people in the United States over the past several months; the first human death from a severe case of the virus was reported in Louisiana this month.
“The project will provide additional support for late-stage development and licensure of pre-pandemic mRNA-based vaccines. The agreement will also support the expansion of clinical studies for up to five additional subtypes of pandemic influenza,” Moderna said in a statement Friday …