The International Vaccine Institute (IVI), an international organization with a mission to discover, develop, and deliver safe, effective, and affordable vaccines for global health, and Moderna, a biotech company working on messenger RNA (mRNA) therapeutics and vaccines, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to partner on collaborative vaccine research and development.
“IVI welcomes this partnership agreement with Moderna to pursue joint research and development and accelerate vaccines for infectious diseases with high disease burden. With IVI’s aim to drive innovative vaccine technology from need to global health impact, we look forward to working closely with a biotech company on the leading edge like Moderna,” said Jerome Kim, director general of IVI.
“We are proud to establish a partnership for vaccine research and development with IVI to advance mRNA vaccines for the prevention of infectious diseases,” said Paul Burton, chief medical officer, Moderna.
“In March 2022, we announced our commitment to expand our global public health portfolio to 15 vaccine programs targeting priority pathogens that threaten global health, advancing these vaccines into clinical studies by 2025. Collaboration is a vital part in helping to achieve this vision.”
Kim and Burton signed the MOU at IVI headquarters in Seoul, Republic of Korea, following discussions on possible areas of future collaboration. IVI’s commitment to prioritizing poverty-associated infectious diseases led to the world’s first affordable oral cholera vaccine and a new-generation typhoid conjugate vaccine. Priority disease areas also include chikungunya, shigella, salmonella, schistosomiasis, Group A Strep, hepatitis E, HPV, and COVID-19 in addition to global health issues such as antimicrobial resistance.