Working to change the future for patients with rare metabolic disorders
February 28, 2019
By Lin Guey, Ph.D., Senior Director, Rare Diseases
Kathy Stagni gave birth to a baby girl, Melissa, in 1988. Only four days later, Melissa slipped into a coma and was diagnosed with a rare metabolic disorder called propionic acidemia, or PA for short. PA is caused by a missing enzyme involved in breaking down certain proteins and fats and is part of a group of disorders called organic acidemias. Currently, there are no approved medicines that treat the underlying causes of PA or other organic acidemias.
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An Important Step in the Advancement of mRNA medicines: Newly Published Clinical Data Show the Early Potential of VEGF-A mRNA as a Regenerative Therapeutic
February 20, 2019
By Tal Zaks, M.D., Ph.D., Chief Medical Officer
This week we were very excited to share newly published clinical data showing the potential of mRNA encoding vascular endothelial growth factor-A (VEGF-A) as a regenerative therapeutic in patients. Published in Nature Communications, these findings represent an important milestone as we seek to further understand and establish the safety and efficacy of delivering mRNA to human tissues.
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Using mRNA to Encode Biologics: Charting a Potential New Course for Medicine
February 5, 2019
By Stephen Hoge, M.D., President
Today, Moderna announced that we dosed the first monoclonal antibody encoded by mRNA in a human. mRNA-1944 is an antibody against Chikungunya virus and the first development candidate from Moderna’s systemic therapeutics modalities to start clinical testing. This marks an important moment for our team and their efforts to develop a new class of medicines based on mRNA.
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Demonstrating a Commitment to Corporate Citizenship from the Ground Up: Building an Energy Efficient and Sustainable Manufacturing Site
July 18, 2018
By Stéphane Bancel, Chief Executive Officer
Although Moderna is a young company, we are planning for long-term impact. Our mission is to deliver on the promise of mRNA science to make transformative medicines for patients. But we also believe we have a significant opportunity to build a company that can be a model for corporate citizenship.
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A Potential Treatment for Heart Failure Using mRNA to Boost VEGF-A Production in the Heart
July 3, 2018
By Regina Fritsche-Danielson, Vice President and Head of Cardiovascular, Renal and Metabolism, IMED Biotech Unit, AstraZeneca
It isn’t often that a group of scientists get to work on something as exciting as heart muscle regeneration. But a joint research team from AstraZeneca and Moderna have seen encouraging results by stimulating the growth of new blood vessels at the borders of damaged heart muscle tissue.
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Expanding Our Commitment to Rare Disease Therapeutics
February 28, 2018
By John Mendlein, Ph.D., President, Corporate and Product Strategy
Each year, the last day of February serves as a reminder to pause and reflect on the challenges and unique needs of patients and families living with rare diseases. It is an opportunity for all members of the patient, medical, and scientific communities to shine a light on the urgent need to improve the care and support for those impacted by such conditions. At Moderna, we are working to intensify this light across an array of rare genetic diseases – and our intent is to bring the full potential of our mRNA-based medicines to create new therapies for untreatable, and previously undruggable ailments.
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The Potential of Moderna's mRNA Platform for Developing a Vaccine to Fight CMV
February 20, 2018
By Mike Watson, MB ChB, SVP Vaccine Partnerships & Health Impact
It is natural to think that a viral infection will always manifest itself as an illness or disease until either the body has cleared it or the virus kills its host. In fact, there are many viruses whose success relies on their ability to enter our bodies and hide without causing an acute illness or alerting our immune systems. These sleeper viruses then periodically wake up and use their host to spread silently to their contacts. The herpes family of viruses are masters of this tactic, and Cytomegalovirus, or CMV, is a member of this family. CMV is estimated to live silently within 60 percent of the U.S. and similar populations – and in nearly 80 percent of people worldwide.
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Delivering on the promise of mRNA therapies for rare diseases
December 19, 2017
By Stephen Hoge, M.D., President, Moderna
and Paolo Martini, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer, Rare Diseases
2017 has been both an exciting, and by all measures, a highly productive year here at Moderna. We began with four clinical programs and are ending the year with ten. In January, we unveiled 12 development candidates (DCs) and have since added six more to our pipeline.
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An Emotionally Special Milestone
November 15, 2017
By Tal Zaks, M.D., Ph.D.
Chief Medical Officer, Moderna
Today marks an emotionally special milestone for me, as a medical oncologist, and for our entire team. This morning, we announced that we have dosed our first patient in the Phase 1 study of our personalized cancer vaccine, mRNA-4157. We have an opportunity to advance a medicine that is so novel, so breakthrough, it could truly transform the treatment of cancer. And that could enable us to help many, many patients more effectively fight this disease – and, for some, even cure it.
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Proud, Passionate and Mission-Driven for Patients
October 19, 2017
By Annie Drapeau
Chief Human Resources Officer, Moderna
This afternoon we announced that, for the third year in a row, we have been named one of the top 10 employers in Science magazine’s annual Top Employers survey. We are incredibly proud of this recognition, and are honored to be named on this list with so many other companies that we admire.
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Shedding light on our prophylactic vaccines’ mechanism of action
September 26, 2017
By Giuseppe Ciaramella, Ph.D.
Chief Scientific Officer, Infectious Diseases, Moderna
When I describe leading infectious disease research efforts at Moderna, I often say it’s a bit like being a kid in a candy shop. We have this amazing, versatile tool in our hands. And we’re pushing the boundaries of this platform technology’s capabilities by exploring a range of options simultaneously – both across therapeutic areas and within therapeutic areas.
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Continuing to Gain Momentum
September 13, 2017
Stéphane Bancel, Chief Executive Officer, Moderna
2017 is a key inflection point for Moderna on our journey to make mRNA medicines a reality for patients.
Our big news: major steps forward for our therapeutic modalities …
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Pioneering A Big Idea with An Unborrowed Vision
June 28, 2017
Noubar Afeyan, Ph.D.
Co-founder and Chairman, Moderna Therapeutics
CEO, Flagship Pioneering
In April 2015, Luke Timmerman wrote an article that appeared in Forbes titled, ‘The Oprahs of Biotech: People Who Can Go by First Name Only.’
‘Stéphane’ was among the names in Luke’s article.
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Building The Digital Biotech Company
June 22, 2017
Stéphane Bancel, Chief Executive Officer, Moderna
My first leadership roles in the biopharma industry were within a large pharma company. This was a phenomenal experience. I gained a strong understanding of how organizational infrastructures support established, global R&D, manufacturing and commercial enterprises to advance medicines to help patients. But I also saw how silos of information, a blend of analog processes and digital ones, and a lack of integration among heterogeneous systems and geographic locations led to many lost opportunities.
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Advancing Disruptive mRNA Vaccines: Opportunity and Obligation
May 4, 2017
Michael Watson, MB ChB, MRCP, AFPM
President, Infectious Diseases, Moderna
Evan Rachlin, MD
Senior Director of Strategic Planning, Moderna
As physicians by training, we’re often asked by friends and family why we made the decision to jump from clinical care to the biopharmaceutical space. The potential to bring new medicines to patients – medicines that can impact and improve many, many lives – is tantalizing.
What attracted both of us to Moderna specifically was its potential to bring not just one or two new medicines to market – but to possibly launch an entire new class of medicines that could help people impacted by many types of diseases. Go big or go home.
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A Milestone Week at Moderna
April 28, 2017
Stéphane Bancel
Chief Executive Officer, Moderna
Dear All,
Welcome to the Moderna Blog.
We’ve considered launching this blog for a while – and this week seemed like the perfect time.
Why launch a blog? We wanted to have a channel to communicate directly and more personally to all those interested in Moderna.
We plan to share insights and our viewpoint on important topics related to our company, our science and pipeline, and our industry as a whole. The blog also will give various team members a platform to talk about what motivates, inspires and drives them in their work here.
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The blogs contained in this section are provided for historical purposes only. The information contained in each blog is accurate only as of the date each press release was originally issued. Moderna disavows any obligation to update the information contained in such blogs after the date of their issuance.
