Investing in mRNA to reinvent health protection

For millions of people, the COVID-19 pandemic has been a very dark cloud, a tragic and isolating period of history that I hope we will never repeat. Despite its many challenges, the pandemic also revealed a few silver linings – global healthcare cooperation of a scale previously unseen, and a surge in digital technologies that kept the world connected, to name just two. Awareness and appreciation of vaccines has also exploded in exciting new ways. Most notably, the world has seen the impressive speed with which the first-ever mRNA vaccines have made it from lab to jab. mRNA has contributed enormously to helping free large parts of the world from the constraints of the pandemic, and it reinforced the role that vaccines play as a critical pillar of public health.

For many infectious diseases, notably certain viral infections like influenza that still plague populations worldwide, mRNA vaccines could potentially reach more people faster than ever before. Maximizing that potential and translating it into true, long-term value in the fight against endemic diseases will require a step-change evolution in the technology and its application in vaccination programs around the world.  Importantly, we must innovate mRNA vaccines to render them more thermostable and tolerable for routine vaccination against a broader set of infectious diseases and across all ages.   

That’s why at Sanofi today we’re excited to announce the launch of a dedicated vaccines mRNA Center of Excellence, funded through a 400€M annual investment. Applying the vast vaccines experience of our organization to the problem at hand, this end-to-end R&D mRNA vaccines hub plans to bring together 400 dedicated employees across two of our sites: Cambridge, Massachusetts in the US and Marcy l’Etoile in France. Through this effort, we are aiming to innovate mRNA vaccines beyond pandemic to routine use, anticipating a minimum of six clinical candidates by 2025.

It’s worth noting that mRNA isn’t the best tool for preventing all infections. It works well for quickly producing proteins which serve as the antigen for most viral infections. But that’s not the case for vaccines targeting the prevention of many bacterial infections where we seek to design antigens that are based on sugars on the bacterial surface. This is the case for meningitis, for example. That’s why continuing to innovate in other vaccine technologies remains critical.

So, the Center of Excellence is a catalyst, bringing together new mRNA technologies with the unparalleled expertise that comes from 100+ years of innovation in vaccines. With this new addition, we expand our toolbox and look ahead, beyond the dark clouds of the pandemic towards reinventing health protection for all.