Moderna Therapeutics

Moderna Therapeutics
Industry Biotechnology research and development
Founded 2010
Headquarters Cambridge, Massachusetts
Key people
 Stéphane Bancel (president and CEO).[1]
Number of employees
 170[2]
Website www.modernatx.com

Moderna Therapeutics is a biotechnology company that researches and develops protein therapies based on novel messenger RNA technology.[3] The company’s technology uses messenger RNA made of nucleotide analogs to trigger the body’s natural processes to produce proteins inside the human cell.[4] This approach has the potential to produce therapeutic proteins in vivo to treat a wide range of diseases, including those that cannot be effectively treated with existing methods to develop and manufacture drugs.[5]

The company was founded in 2010 in Cambridge, Massachusetts through funding from Flagship Ventures.[6][7][8] Moderna’s founders include Noubar Afeyan of Flagship Ventures, Kenneth R. Chien of Harvard University and the Karolinska Institutet, Robert S. Langer of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Derrick Rossi of Boston Children’s Hospital.[9]

History

Moderna received venture capital and grant funding of $40 million from Flagship Ventures' VentureLabs unit and other private investors by December 2012.[2][3]

In March 2013, Moderna Therapeutics and AstraZeneca signed a five-year exclusive option agreement to discover, develop and commercialize messenger RNA therapeutics for the treatment of serious cardiovascular, metabolic and renal diseases as well as selected targets in oncology.[10][11] The agreement included a $240 million upfront payment to Moderna, a payment that is "one of the largest ever initial payments in a pharmaceutical industry licensing deal that does not involve a drug already being tested in clinical trials."[10]

In October 2013, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) awarded Moderna a grant worth up to $24.6 million to research and develop its messenger RNA drug technology to fight infectious diseases and biological weapons.[12][13]

In November 2013, Moderna secured an additional $110M in equity financing to further develop its mRNA Therapeutics platform as a private company.[14] In January 2014, Moderna and Alexion Pharmaceuticals entered a $125 million deal to aid in the discovery and development of messenger RNA therapeutics used to treat rare diseases. Alexion paid Moderna $100 million exchange for 10 product options to develop rare-disease drugs using Moderna’s mRNA Therapeutics platform, and also made another $25 million preferred equity investment in Moderna.[15]

In June 2014, CNBC recognized Moderna as one of the top 50 companies whose innovations are having a dramatic impact across their industries, and are poised for hyper-growth.[16]

In October 2014, Moderna announced a strategic research and clinical partnership with Karolinska Institutet and Karolinska University Hospital, and established Moderna Therapeutics Sweden in Stockholm as its first expansion outside the U.S.[17]

At the beginning of January 2015, Moderna announced announced that it had raised $450 million in new funding to support further expansion of its mRNA Therapeutics platform across multiple modalities and therapeutic areas. As of this announcement, Moderna had secured $950 million in funding through financing activities and commercial partnerships.[18]

On January 8, 2015, Moderna launched Valera, a venture focused exclusively on the advancement of vaccines and therapeutics for the prevention and treatment of viral, bacterial and parasitic infectious diseases.[19]

Also in January 2015, Moderna announced a license and collaboration agreement with Merck for the discovery and development of vaccines and passive immunity treatments against viral diseases using modified messenger RNA (mRNA). Merck made an upfront cash payment to Moderna of $50 million to commercialize five product candidates, as well as a $50 million equity investment in Moderna.[20]

Research

In September 2013 Moderna co-founder Kenneth Chien served as senior author to a study published in Nature Biotechnology, which showed that Moderna's messenger RNA therapeutics platform induced in vivo production of proteins to stimulate blood vessel growth, repair damaged heart tissue, and improve outcomes in a mouse model of myocardial infarction.[21][22][23][24] Researchers injected mice with a single dose of VEGF-A-coded messenger RNA in the heart shortly following myocardial infarction to trigger production of the VEGF-A protein.[21] Researchers found that “the presence of VEGF-A caused progenitor cells in the heart that would normally become scar tissue following a myocardial infarction to become vascular tissue.”[22] Mice injected with messenger RNA went on to generate new cardiovascular cells and show improvements on measures of cardiac function and survival when compared with controls.[21][24]

References

  1. ↑ Kyle Alspach (May 22, 2013). "Moderna CEO Bancel joins Flagship Ventures as senior partner". Boston Business Journal. Retrieved Dec 11, 2013.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Luke Timmerman (October 2, 2013). "Moderna Snags $25M DARPA Grant to Fight Pandemics With mRNA Drugs". Xconomy. Retrieved Dec 11, 2013.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Catherine Shaffer (December 6, 2013). "Moderna Makes Entrance with $40M Round for mRNA Work". BioWorld. Retrieved Dec 11, 2013.
  4. ↑ "Modified mRNA directs the fate of heart progenitor cells and induces vascular regeneration after myocardial infarction". Nature Biotechnology. September 8, 2013. Retrieved Dec 11, 2013.
  5. ↑ Meghan Sullivan (January 28, 2013). "Moderna: Funding the messenger". BioCentury. Retrieved Dec 11, 2013.
  6. ↑ Michael Farrell (December 6, 2012). "New Cambridge biotech comes out of stealth mode". Boston Globe. Retrieved Dec 11, 2013.
  7. ↑ Peter Cohan (July 12, 2013). "After $240 Million AstraZeneca Deal, How Big Will Moderna Get?". Forbes. Retrieved Dec 11, 2013.
  8. ↑ Galen Moore (March 21, 2013). "Here's why AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot is betting huge on a tiny Cambridge biotech". Boston Business Journal. Retrieved Dec 11, 2013.
  9. ↑ Cathering Elton (March 2013). "The NEXT Next Big Thing". Boston Magazine. Retrieved Dec 11, 2013.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Andrew Pollack (March 21, 2013). "AstraZeneca Makes a Bet on an Untested Technique". New York Times. Retrieved Dec 11, 2013.
  11. ↑ Robert Weisman (March 21, 2013). "Moderna in line for $240m licensing deal". The Boston Globe. Retrieved Dec 11, 2013.
  12. ↑ Emily Mullin (October 2, 2013). "Moderna lands $25M grant to develop its RNA platform against infectious diseases, bioterror". Fierce Biotech. Retrieved Dec 11, 2013.
  13. ↑ Luke Timmerman (October 2, 2013). "Moderna Snags $25M DARPA Grant to Fight Pandemics With mRNA Drugs". Xconomy. Retrieved Dec 11, 2013.
  14. ↑ http://blogs.wsj.com/venturecapital/2013/11/20/the-daily-startup-moderna-to-advance-messenger-rna-therapies-privately-despite-ipo-market/
  15. ↑ Reidy, Chris. "Alexion, Moderna announce agreement to develop messenger RNA therapeutics . Boston Globe. January 13, 2014.
  16. ↑ CNBC. "CNBC's Disruptor 50. CNBC. June 17, 2014.
  17. ↑ Press release. "Moderna to Collaborate with Karolinska Institutet and Karolinska University Hospital on Discovery of New Messenger RNA Therapeutics™. October 16, 2014.
  18. ↑ Press release. "Moderna Closes $450 Million Financing to Support Growth of Messenger RNA Therapeutics™ Platform across Diverse Therapeutic Areas". January 5, 2015.
  19. ↑ Press release. "Moderna Launches New Venture Valera LLC for Infectious Diseases". January 8, 2015.
  20. ↑ Press release. "Moderna Announces License and Collaboration Agreement with Merck to Develop Messenger RNA-based Antiviral Vaccines and Passive Immunity Therapies". January 13, 2015.
  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 21.2 "Modified mRNA directs the fate of heart progenitor cells and induces vascular regeneration after myocardial infarction". Nature Biotechnology. September 8, 2013. Retrieved Dec 11, 2013.
  22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 "Moderna Therapeutics - 2013 Fierce 15". Fierce Biotech. 2013-09-23. Retrieved Dec 11, 2013.
  23. ↑ Bradley J. Fikes (Sep 8, 2013). "Heart tissue regenerated with synthetic RNA". UT San Diego. Retrieved Dec 11, 2013.
  24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 "RNA boosts heart regeneration". European Biotechnology News. September 9, 2013. Retrieved Dec 11, 2013.

External links