Moderna signed another $100 million RNA drug development agreement with MSD

Source: Biovalley 2015-1-14 just arrived in 2015 I'm afraid that the managers of Moderna will laugh when they sleep After Moderna signed a US $300 million R & D agreement with Takeda Pharmaceutical (related reading: Takeda pharmaceutical signed a US $300 million tumor ADC drug R & D agreement with mersana), its long-term partner, MSD, signed a US $100 million RNA drug R & D agreement with Moderna Two large orders in succession may indicate that Moderna company will usher in a rapid development period in 2015 According to the agreement signed with MSD, MSD will pay $50 million in cash to Moderna in exchange for five antiviral candidates in preclinical research In addition, MSD has promised to Moderna an unknown amount of milestone funds And one of the sharp tools that Moderna company is so favored by MSD is the technology of delivering RNA medicine developed by the company Scientists have been thinking about how to deliver protein drugs and small molecule drugs to the lesions However, this delivery mode still faces problems such as the rapid decomposition of drugs, the reduction of efficacy and the large side effects In recent years, the rise of RNA therapy research provides a new idea for this problem The scientists envision delivering specific mRNA to the patient's cells so that they can turn each cell into a "drug processing plant" that automatically generates the drugs needed for treatment In this way, on the one hand, the efficacy of the drug will be greatly prolonged; on the other hand, the drug protein can be enriched in the parts requiring treatment, so as to reduce the side effects of the drug Moderna is currently conducting about 45 similar studies In recent years, many biomedical industry analysts regard RNA therapy as an important development direction of the future biomedical industry, and many biomedical giants have invested a lot of human and material resources in this field However, limited by the drug delivery technology and safety considerations, some enterprises also have concerns in this field Last year, Novartis' exit from the sector represented a negative view of these companies.