Before reading this, to be clear, I have ZERO medical training. I'm just an investor that's listened to an absurd number of Moderna podcasts. While I've invested in Moderna for its mRNA platform (which I believe sets it apart from its competitors), there are of course other Pharma companies that also utilize mRNA technology, of which Pfizer-BioNTech is a very notable example.
There's no way the following list is complete, so please let me know what I've missed in the comments & of course any mistakes!… I'm up for learning.
So, why do I think Moderna's mRNA is superior to Old Pharma's methods:
1) Using mRNA you can make medicines which are technically undoable using small molecule old chemistry technology. A 09Apr22 Pod at3.00 said only c.30% of the proteins in the body were accessible with old pharma / biotech drugs.. i.e. mRNA gives access the 30% & all the rest.
2) Using mRNA you get rapid & iterative development ("tweaks" to improve the code), bringing down drug cycle time from Pharma's 6-8yrs down to Moderna's c.2yrs. Moderna credits its ability to rapidly tweak its mRNA code with why it only took an average of 1-2 years to move their CV19, RSV & flu programs from Phase 1 to the end of Phase 3.
3) With mRNA our bodies cells create the vaccine, it's not grown outside the body. Think of it as, mRNA turning human cells into medicine factories, producing their own disease-fighting proteins, essentially outsourcing part of the vaccine production to our own cells! As an example: In the case of Flu, vaccines are slowly cultured on the fluid from chicken embryos which takes time. Because that method takes time, currently the World Health Organization's (WHO) recommended quadrivalent (i.e. 4 types) strains are selected a considerable time in advance, with mRNA on the scene they could select problem flu strains later, with better knowledge, resulting (hopefully) in a better match to the prevalent strain.
4) With mRNA there's a lower chance of toxicity issues. On a 24Jun20 pod] at20.14 (Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel) said "the raw material of Moderna is genetic information, this is not something we guess. If you think about it, most chemicals tested by pharma have toxicity issues because they don’t exist in nature, they're not supposed to be in the human body, but the protein we get made by mRNA have existed in the human body forever, so the probability of success will be higher"
5) mRNA from the outset has a better/quicker chance of finding a drug solution.. a Stéphane Bancel pod (2021 ep89 at29.40) put is this way.. Another thing that's fascinating about this mRNA technology, which I've never seen in pharma before, is that you design your product to spec. You start backwards from what problem you’re trying to solve (e.g. the solution for a disease), just as an architect would draw up plans before building a house, unlike old pharma which works forward from the best molecule you can give me from a lab.. For CMV we didn't start by saying we need 6 mRNA, no we said what’s the right biology to make a vaccine that will get approved because it's going to work safely.
6) Using mRNA, unlike Old Pharma, you don't need a sample of the virus & all the attendant handling risks with say infectious disease. They just need a genome sequence.
7) Using mRNA can lead to capital/manufacturing efficiencies, leading to cheaper drugs or (of course) larger margins. In Moderna’s case, each of their new manufacturing sites will support their entire drug platform, with the ability to go from mRNA vaccines (you don’t yet have the disease) to mRNA therapeutics (you have the disease).
8) mRNA can lead to quicker drug discovery. An obvious example of this is Moderna & Pfizer/BioNTech Covid response compared to Old Pharma’s efforts.
Old Pharma is of course investing in mRNA, partnering with mRNA companies & even acquiring a few businesses (hopefully Moderna it too large, not interested!). To be honest I reckon this is great for society, however I believe Moderna's Platform which is solely focused on mRNA (no legacy old Pharma stuff!), 10+yrs of “Data Assets” [I've covered this in previous posts] & its manufacturing process will keep it ahead of the pack although there's plenty to go around.
Good luck in whatever you decide to invest in!
