A researcher works in the lab at the Moderna headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Photographer: Adam Glanzman/BloombergModerna’s First Vaccine Was a Big Hit. Its Second Is a Let Down
The biotech’s first product for something other than Covid doesn’t clearly perform any better than other shots on the market.
Moderna Inc.’s pioneering Covid shot turned the company into a nearly $200 billion biotech giant and a public health hero. Its second vaccine, meant to prevent a common respiratory virus, is calling into question the premise on which the company has staked its entire business.
The forthcoming RSV shot, expected to get US regulatory approval this month, is Moderna’s first chance to show the versatility of mRNA technology to more effectively treat and prevent a range of illnesses from the flu to cancer. It will be the first mRNA product for something other than Covid.