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 The move highlights the challenges of competing in particular with
pioneer BioNTech, which rose from obscurity through its alliance
with pharma major Pfizer last year. The pair have delivered close to
1.5 billion doses so far, making them the western world's largest
COVID-19 vaccine maker.
French healthcare group Sanofi will instead focus on efforts with
British partner GlaxoSmithKline to bring another COVID-19 vaccine
candidate to market based on the more conventional protein-based
approach, where mass trials are ongoing.
The decision to drop clinical development of a shot based on mRNA,
or messenger RNA, acquired as part of its takeover of Translate Bio,
came despite positive Phase I/II study interim results https://www.sanofi.com/en/media-room/press-releases/2021/2021-09-28-08-00-00-2304069
announced on Tuesday where participants' blood readings showed a
strong immune reaction.
But Sanofi said the read-out encouraged it only to pursue the
technology as a potential vaccine against influenza and other
diseases, giving up on the area of COVID-19 because of the strong
market presence of the two approved mRNA shots.
"These results will clearly help inform the path forward for our
mRNA development programs," said Jean-Francois Toussaint, global
head of research and development at Sanofi Pasteur.
Sanofi's shares gained 1.1% to 83.01 euros by 0850 GMT,
outperforming a 0.9% decline in the STOXX Europe 600 Health Care.
"The decision to end RNA looks to be interpreted as positive since
they will save development costs and concentrate on other products
and ventures," said Ion-Marc Valahu, a fund manager at Geneva-based
investment firm Clairinvest.
The company said it started testing an mRNA shot against seasonal
influenza in humans in June and will launch follow-on clinical
studies next year.
The development of RNA flu shots is already shaping up to be a tight
race as drugmakers hope they can more quickly adjust the vaccine to
ever-changing strains in circulation.
[to top of second column] |
 Pfizer said this week it
started testing an mRNA flu vaccine. Moderna has
several influenza vaccine candidates in
development, including combinations that include
a COVID-19 booster. Established
influenza vaccine supplier Seqirus, part of Australia's CSL, for
instance, is working on next-generation low-dose RNA flu shots,
known as self-amplifying RNA.
Companies including Novavax are working on novel flu shots using new
technology beyond mRNA. Sanofi reported 2.5 billion
euros ($2.9 billion) in sales from flu vaccines in 2020, the largest
of its vaccine business, which recorded total sales of 5.9 billion
euros.
The mRNA vaccines trick the human body into producing proteins known
as antigens that are found on the surface of the coronavirus that
causes COVID-19. That primes the immune system to quell future
infections.
Under the more traditional protein-based vaccine approach that
Sanofi will now focus on, the antigen is bioengineered in labs and
combined with an efficacy booster known as an adjuvant, provided by
GSK.
Sanofi executive Thomas Triomphe told journalists in a briefing that
the EU and Britain had ordered 75 million doses of this vaccine,
banking on future regulatory approval.
German biotech firm CureVac earlier this month also acknowledged
rivals' dominance when it cancelled some of the contract
manufacturing deals for its experimental mRNA COVID-19 vaccine with
two prospective partners.
CureVac's product is under review by the European Union's drugs
regulator with an uncertain outcome after disappointing trial
results.
($1 = 0.8537 euros)
(Reporting by Ludwig Burger, Sarah White and Sudip Kar-Gupta,
editing by David Evans and Louise Heavens)
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