Keeping tabs on Pharma: Covid-19 booster shots on the agenda and medicinal research receives investment boost

The past week has seen Moderna taking steps to pre-empt Covid-19 resurgences, while a new joint venture provides a much-needed boost to medicine discovery efforts. Read on to find out about the latest news in the pharma industry.

Moderna begins Covid-19 booster testing amid concerns of infection resurgences

Hopes that the global rollouts of Covid-19 vaccinations would be the beginning of the end for the pandemic look likely to be dashed as US pharmaceutical giant Moderna has warned that the end may not yet be upon us. Moderna said it believed that declining immunity for early vaccine recipients combined with the spread of a newer, stronger Delta variant of the virusthe , would likely lead to a period of breakthrough infections in the coming months.

Although US authorities have not yet taken the step of recommending Covid-19 vaccine boosters to its citizens, Moderna said it believed that these add-on shots would become a necessary part of the battle to stem the spread of the virus.

Stephen Hoge, company president and R&D chief at Moderna, stated: “This is not the last round of the fight with SARS-CoV-2. We expect it to have at least a couple more rounds and, maybe annually, we're just going to continue to fight this virus back.”

Moderna announced a three-tiered strategy for combatting potential Covid-19 resurgences and has begun testing a third dose of its original shot, known as mRNA-1273 or Spikevax, as well as variant specific boosters and multivariant shots.

“The goal of the multivalent platform is to continue to try and stay ahead of where the virus is going by combining different antigens against emerging variants of concern,” Hoge remarked.

Medicine discovery efforts receive a boost as new joint venture announced

This week saw big news for start-ups in the field of medicine discovery, with medicine research and innovation organization Medicines Discovery Catapult (MDC) and non-profit We Share Ventures teaming up to announce new funding for the field.

The venture said it would provide and maintain financial opportunities for medicine discovery start-ups with a focus on those developing solutions for unmet patient needs. The venture will offer loans over a period of five-to-eight years, which is an improvement on traditional funding procedures as it will give start-ups time to grow and develop their products.

Professor Chris Molloy, CEO, Medicines Discovery Catapult, remarked: “The MDC-We Share approach allows medicine discovery start-ups to devote their energies to doing what they do best: R&D. The potential for this new model is huge across every therapeutic area and we are delighted to be partnering with We Share for what could be a game-changing moment in medicines R&D.”

The venture will be focused on funding research for unmet patient needs with Edward de Jager, founder of We Share Ventures and chairman of the board at Unknown Group, noting that ”despite its many successes, the traditional model of utilising venture capital to fund projects into medicines discovery cannot cater for every area of research, especially in the early stages of their development”.

Have your say on the latest news in the world of pharma, leave a comment below.