Moderna reports encouraging results on its mpox vaccine, STAT reports

Moderna reported in the journal Cell that a messenger RNA-based mpox vaccine that it is developing was more protective than a vaccine made using the same platform as Bavarian Nordic’s Jynneos vaccine in a study in which non-human primates were vaccinated, then deliberately infected with mpox, STAT News’ Helen Branswell reports. All the animals vaccinated with either vaccine survived what would otherwise have been a lethal challenge with an injection of the mpox virus, the study reported. But four of six primates that received the vaccine formulated to mimic the Jynneos vaccine nevertheless went on to develop enough lesions to meet the World Health Organization’s criteria for “grave” disease. None of the macaques that were vaccinated with the experimental Moderna vaccine, mRNA-1769, even developed “severe” disease, the author notes.