No manufacturer will have a coronavirus vaccine ready for use before the middle of 2020, despite an intensive global effort, a biotech executive told AFP on Friday. Stephane Bancel is chief executive of Moderna Therapeutics, one of several entities involved in an all-out international effort to create a vaccine as soon as possible for the deadly SARS-like virus, also known as nCoV-2019, that has already killed more than 200 people. Moderna is working in coordination with the US National Institutes of Health, while Inovio Pharmaceuticals and the University of Queensland in Australia are pursuing alternative tracks. They have all received funding from the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), an international body established to finance costly biotechnology research. But Bancel warned that “no manufacturer will be able to have a vaccine ready for the summer”. In a French-language interview with AFP, Bancel also described the technology Moderna was using in its approach. “It is based on messenger RNA technology. Messenger RNA (mRNA) is a coded information molecule,” he said.

‘Master the technology’

Moderna’s website explains that “mRNA medicines are sets of instructions that cells in the body use to make proteins to prevent or fight disease.” Bancel added that “once we have managed to master the technology that works on humans, things could go very quickly because it is always the same manufacturing process… for messenger RNA against the flu or against the coronavirus, it is the same method of manufacturing, the only difference is the order of letters that code the proteins. “For the coronavirus, we are working with the US National Institutes of Health (NIH). They acquired the virus’ sequence from the Chinese government, then the NIH and our teams analysed it to understand the protein structures, which are different from other viruses. “Our teams near Boston are making a vaccine now, and as soon as it is ready, it will be sent to the NIH which will carry out clinical phase 1 trials” Bancel said in reference to initial safety tests on humans.