Sanofi and Translate Bio Team Up on mRNA-based COVID-19 Vaccine Candidate

Sanofi Pasteur and Translate Bio are working together on a COVID-19 vaccine candidate that uses messenger-RNA (mRNA) technology and should be easier to store than Moderna’s and Pfizer/ BioNTech’s mRNA-based vaccines.

This is Sanofi’s second go at a COVID-19 vaccine. Last year, the vaccine giant and partner GlaxoSmithKline saw their protein-based jab delayed by weak results in older adults. The two companies made adjustments and recently started phase 2 trials.

The phase 1/2 clinical trial of MRT5500 is expected to enroll 415 participants age 18 and older. Participants will receive one dose or two doses 21 days apart. Three different dose levels will be investigated. Interim results are expected in the third quarter of 2021, the companies said.

Sanofi and Translate Bio are working on improving the temperature stability of the vaccine candidate and targeting a -4 degrees Fahrenheit (-20 degrees Celsius) storage temperature. Efforts are also under way to enable the product to be stable at standard refrigerator temperature, 35.6 to 46.4 degrees Fahrenheit (2 to 8 degrees Celsius), the companies said.

At the same time, Sanofi and Translate Bio say they’re working on preclinical studies to evaluate additional mRNA candidates against emerging COVID-19 variants.

The companies agreed to collaborate on mRNA vaccines well before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. In 2018, they inked a collaboration and exclusive license agreement to develop mRNA vaccines for up to five infectious disease pathogens. They first expanded that agreement in March 2020 to include development of a novel mRNA vaccine for COVID-19. — Suz Redfearn