September 28, 2021 – Pfizer Inc. announced that the first participants have been dosed in a Phase 1 clinical trial to evaluate the safety, tolerability, and immunogenicity of a single dose quadrivalent mRNA flu vaccine in healthy adults.
Pfizer’s mRNA influenza vaccine program is the first in a planned wave of programs leveraging mRNA technology for influenza.
Beyond influenza, the company plans to explore mRNA in other respiratory viruses, including medically appropriate vaccines combinations that could provide protection against more than one respiratory virus, as well as expand to develop mRNA technology in oncology, and genetic diseases.
Pfizer says that the new mRNA flu vaccine would overcome many of the challenges faced by traditional flu vaccine development. The flexibility of mRNA technology and its rapid manufacturing could potentially allow better strain match, greater reliability of supply, and the potential opportunity to improve upon the efficacy of current flu vaccines. Furthermore, in a pandemic influenza situation, mRNA technology could allow rapid, large-scale manufacturing of effective vaccines, Pfizer says.