The company reported that it reached an agreement to partner with Life Edit Therapeutics, which is geared towards these purposes. For now. the Covid-19 vaccine is the company’s only product on the market.
22 February 2023 17:34
This Wednesday, Modern announced a new partnership with Life Edit Therapeutics, aimed at finding and developing treatments for rare genetic diseases and other conditions, as the Massachusetts biotech moves forward with expanding its offerings and builds on the successes of its vaccine for Covid-19 mRNA.
Moderna said it will combine Life Edit Therapeutics’ gene-editing tools and the mRNA technology that underpins its Covid vaccine to discover and develop treatments — and possibly permanent cures — for a host of unnamed genetic conditions and diseases.
The companies will collaborate on research and pre-clinical studies, funded by Moderna, and Moderna will handle any further development, manufacturing and commercialization should Moderna so choose.
Life Edit Therapeutics, a private subsidiary of cell and gene therapy company ElevateBioreceive an up-front cash payment, and may receive milestone payments and royalties on products resulting from the collaboration.
Moderna said the association is in line with its goal of curing “Some of the most challenging genetic diseases”.
What to keep in mind
Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine is the company’s only product on the market. Although it is wildly successful and is still expected to rake in billions, the firm is pushing hard to expand its offering. It has been buying and closing deals with other biotech companies, developing cancer vaccines, and has other mRNA vaccines and treatments in the pipeline, including to flu, RSV, HIV, Zika, and cystic fibrosis.
what we don’t know
It’s unclear what diseases or conditions Moderna and Life Edit hope to target, though the ad says they are working “to advance potentially life-transforming or curative therapies for some of the most challenging genetic diseases”.
ElevateBio CEO, David Halldeclare a Fierce Biotech that both companies are “very aware of what we are going to focus on” and are ready to get down to business. “For competitive reasons, it makes perfect sense that we don’t disclose all the exciting areas we are working on together,” Hallal explained.
large number
$18.4 billion. That is the amount that Moderna says sales of its Covid-19 vaccine will generate in 2022. The figure is similar to the amount generated by the vaccine the previous year. However, sales are expected to plummet in 2023, and the company expects to make around 5 billion dollars in sales.
