Review of Current Vaccine Development Strategies to Prevent Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19).

The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) outbreak that started in Wuhan, China, in 2019 resulted in a pandemic not seen for a century, and there is an urgent need to develop safe and efficacious vaccines. The scientific community has made tremendous efforts to understand the disease, and unparalleled efforts are ongoing to develop vaccines and treatments. Toxicologists and pathologists are involved in these efforts to test the efficacy and safety of vaccine candidates. Presently, there are several SARS-CoV-2 vaccines in clinical trials, and the pace of vaccine development has been highly accelerated to meet the urgent need. By 2021, efficacy and safety data from clinical trials are expected, and potentially a vaccine will be available for those most at risk. This review focuses on the ongoing SARS-CoV-2 vaccine development efforts with emphasis on the nonclinical safety assessment and discusses emerging preliminary data from nonclinical and clinical studies. It also provides a brief overview on vaccines for other coronaviruses, since experience gained from these can be useful in the development of SARS-CoV-2 vaccines. This review will also explain why, despite this unprecedented pace of vaccine development, rigorous standards are in place to ensure nonclinical and clinical safety and efficacy. [Box: see text].

Dual mRNA therapy restores metabolic function in long-term studies in mice with propionic acidemia.

Propionic acidemia/aciduria (PA) is an ultra-rare, life-threatening, inherited metabolic disorder caused by deficiency of the mitochondrial enzyme, propionyl-CoA carboxylase (PCC) composed of six alpha (PCCA) and six beta (PCCB) subunits. We herein report an enzyme replacement approach to treat PA using a combination of two messenger RNAs (mRNAs) (dual mRNAs) encoding both human PCCA (hPCCA) and PCCB (hPCCB) encapsulated in biodegradable lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) to produce functional PCC enzyme in liver. In patient fibroblasts, dual mRNAs encoded proteins localize in mitochondria and produce higher PCC enzyme activity vs. single (PCCA or PCCB) mRNA alone. In a hypomorphic murine model of PA, dual mRNAs normalize ammonia similarly to carglumic acid, a drug approved in Europe for the treatment of hyperammonemia due to PA. Dual mRNAs additionally restore functional PCC enzyme in liver and thus reduce primary disease-associated toxins in a dose-dependent manner in long-term 3- and 6-month repeat-dose studies in PA mice. Dual mRNAs are well-tolerated in these studies with no adverse findings. These studies demonstrate the potential of mRNA technology to chronically administer multiple mRNAs to produce large complex enzymes, with applicability to other genetic disorders.

Long-term efficacy and safety of mRNA therapy in two murine models of methylmalonic acidemia.

BACKGROUND: Isolated methylmalonic acidemia/aciduria (MMA) is an ultra-rare, serious, inherited metabolic disorder with significant morbidity and mortality. Exogenously delivered mRNA encoding human methylmalonyl-CoA mutase (hMUT), the enzyme most frequently mutated in MMA, is a potential therapy to produce functional MUT enzyme in liver. METHODS: Two 12-week repeat-dose studies were conducted to evaluate the efficacy and safety of intravenously-administered hMUT mRNA encapsulated in lipid nanoparticles in two murine models of MMA. FINDINGS: In MMA hypomorphic mice, hMUT mRNA treatment resulted in dose-dependent and reproducible biomarker responses after each dose. Enzymatically-active MUT protein was produced in liver in a dose-dependent manner. hMUT mRNA was well-tolerated with no adverse effects, as indicated by the lack of clinical observations, minimal changes in clinical chemistry parameters, and histopathology examination across all tissues. In severe MMA mice, hMUT mRNA led to substantially improved survival and growth and ameliorated biochemical abnormalities, all of which are cardinal clinical manifestations in severely affected patients. INTERPRETATION: These data demonstrate durable functional benefit of hMUT mRNA and support development of this new class of therapy for a devastating, pediatric disorder. FUND: This work was funded by Moderna, Inc.