Here are two things that are true.
The world needs more effective flu vaccines. And pharmaceutical companies that learned of the vaccine-making power of the messenger RNA platform during the Covid-19 pandemic need new markets for their technology.
With the heydays of Covid vaccine sales in the rearview mirror, the flu vaccine market, with its antiquated production process that mainly relies on growing viruses in hen’s eggs, seems an obvious candidate for a shake-up.
The manufacturers have noticed, with Pfizer, Moderna, GSK, and Sanofi all working on mRNA flu shots. GSK and Sanofi are already major producers of flu vaccines and may be looking to solidify their positions; Pfizer and Moderna are new to flu, but further along in the mRNA work.
Given the widespread acceptance that the current flu vaccines could use improvement, are mRNA shots the answer? As the scientific world waits for published data on which to formulate conclusions, STAT spoke to influenza and vaccine experts who see some significant benefits of applying mRNA technology to the production of flu vaccine — but also some serious challenges mRNA manufacturers will face breaking into this already crowded market.
Let’s explore the arguments for and against mRNA flu shots.