Pfizer’s Roadmap for mRNA, A “Game-Changer Technology”

Pfizer produced more than 3 billion doses of the mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccine, Comirnaty^TM, in 2021. But the potential for messenger RNA technology extends to other therapeutics and vaccines and could lead to further breakthrough medicines in the years to come.

“We truly believe that mRNA is a game-changer technology,” Pfizer Chairman and CEO Albert Bourla said at the JPMorgan Healthcare Conference in early January. “We decided that we are going [all] in because we have developed the expertise and the infrastructure that allow us to be a leading player.”

The company’s mRNA roadmap includes an investigational vaccine for the flu, for which Pfizer began human trials in September 2021, and a potential improved vaccine for shingles that could require one dose instead of two and have fewer side effects. Both vaccines are being developed with BioNTech, which partnered with Pfizer on the COVID-19 vaccine.

A second area of focus is rare diseases. Pfizer is collaborating with Beam Therapeutics, which has developed a gene-editing technology, to develop products to treat genetic diseases of the liver, muscle and central nervous system with a potential one-time therapy.

Cancer vaccines, while further out on the horizon, are also an important area of focus and priority for Pfizer’s mRNA efforts, where there is an opportunity to deliver transformational breakthroughs for patients.

Bourla also said the company has also been working on finding efficient ways to synthesize DNA, which is the starting point for the mRNA production process. A new collaboration and licensing agreement with Codex DNA, Inc. could potentially significantly shrink the amount of time it takes at the front-end of the mRNA production process by moving from biologic to synthetic DNA assembly and reducing time from several weeks to days..

The technology could also allow for more effective flu vaccines because scientists could wait until closer to the start of the flu season to make sure they are matching the circulating strains as closely as possible.

Improved formulations are also at the core of Pfizer’s strategy in mRNA and the company entered into an agreement to collaborate with Acuitas Therapeutics with respect to its lipid nanoparticle (LNP) delivery systems. The agreement allows Pfizer to explore more projects within vaccines as well as new therapeutic areas where mRNA-LNP technology holds potential for success.

Pfizer was able to develop the COVID vaccine in a record nine months through a “Light Speed” mentality that reduced bureaucracy and increased collaboration. The company is taking this approach to its mRNA roadmap.

“Pfizer, through this pandemic experience, was able to accumulate experience of a decade into a year,” Bourla said.