- Honda and Nissan to launch merger talks
- Police arrest suspect who set woman on fire in New York subway
- China vows 'cooperation' over ship linked to severed Baltic Sea cables
- Australian tennis star Purcell provisionally suspended for doping
- Asian markets track Wall St rally as US inflation eases rate fears
- Luxury Western goods line Russian stores, three years into sanctions
- Wallace and Gromit return with comic warning about AI dystopia
- Philippine military says will acquire US Typhon missile system
- Afghan bread, the humble centrepiece of every meal
- Honda and Nissan expected to begin merger talks
- 'Draconian' Vietnam internet law heightens free speech fears
- Israeli women mobilise against ultra-Orthodox military exemptions
- Asian markets track Wall St rally as US inflation eases rate worries
- Tens of thousands protest in Serbian capital over fatal train station accident
- Trump vows to 'stop transgender lunacy' as a top priority
- Daniels throws five TDs as Commanders down Eagles, Lions and Vikings win
- 'Who's next?': Misinformation and online threats after US CEO slaying
- Only 12 trucks delivered food, water in North Gaza Governorate since October: Oxfam
- InterContinental Hotels Group PLC Announces Transaction in Own Shares - December 23
- Melrose Group Publicly Files Complaint to the Ontario Securities Commission
- Langers edge Tiger and son Charlie in PNC Championship playoff
- Explosive batsman Jacobs gets New Zealand call-up for Sri Lanka series
- Holders PSG edge through on penalties in French Cup
- Slovak PM Fico on surprise visit to Kremlin to talk gas deliveries
- Daniels throw five TDs as Commanders down Eagles
- Atalanta fight back to take top spot in Serie A, Roma hit five
- Mancini admits regrets over leaving Italy for Saudi Arabia
- Run machine Ayub shines as Pakistan sweep South Africa
- Slovak PM Fico on surprise visit to Kremlin
- Gaza rescuers say Israeli strikes kill 35
- 'Incredible' Liverpool must stay focused: Slot
- Maresca 'absolutely happy' as title-chasing Chelsea drop points in Everton draw
- Salah happy wherever career ends after inspiring Liverpool rout
- Three and easy as Dortmund move into Bundesliga top six
- Liverpool hit Spurs for six, Man Utd embarrassed by Bournemouth
- Netanyahu vows to act with 'force, determination' against Yemen's Huthis
- Mbappe back from 'bottom' as Real Madrid down Sevilla
- Ali hat-trick helps champions Ahly crush Belouizdad
- France kept on tenterhooks over new government
- Salah stars as rampant Liverpool hit Spurs for six
- Syria's new leader says all weapons to come under 'state control'
- 'Sonic 3' zips to top of N.America box office
- Rome's Trevi Fountain reopens to limited crowds
- Mbappe strikes as Real Madrid down Sevilla
- 'Nervous' Man Utd humiliated by Bournemouth
- Pope again condemns 'cruelty' of Israeli strikes on Gaza
- Lonely this Christmas: Vendee skippers in low-key celebrations on high seas
- Troubled Man Utd humiliated by Bournemouth
- 2 US pilots shot down over Red Sea in 'friendly fire' incident: military
- Man Utd embarrassed by Bournemouth, Chelsea held at Everton
Covid-flu joint booster jab possible late 2023: Moderna
Moderna aims to roll out a combined Covid-flu-RSV booster vaccine in late 2023, the US pharmaceutical firm said Monday, hoping a joint jab would encourage people to get an annual shot.
The single vaccine for Covid-19, influenza and respiratory syncytial virus -- a common virus that causes the cold, but can be more serious for infants and elderly people -- could appear on the market before 2024.
"Best-case scenario will be the fall of '23," Moderna chief executive Stephane Bancel told a virtual World Economic Forum roundtable session.
"I don't think it would happen in every country, but we believe it's possible to happen in some countries next year.
"Our goal is to be able to have a single annual booster so that we don't have compliance issues where people don't want to get two to three shots a winter, but to get one dose."
- Trials in progress -
Bancel said the RSV programme was in Phase III trials -- the final stage of human testing -- while the flu programme should be entering Phase III in the second quarter of this year.
Moderna's experimental flu shot, targeting four major strains, is based on the same mRNA method used in its Covid-19 jabs.
The technology provokes an immune response by delivering genetic molecules containing the code for key parts of a pathogen into human cells.
While Moderna's Covid-19 vaccine was based on the original strain of the virus, it was working on finishing an Omicron-specific jab within weeks, ahead of trials, said Bancel.
"We're hoping in the March timeframe we should be able to have data to share with regulators to figure out the next step forward."
- Hunt for 'holy grail' -
Beyond a vaccine specific to Omicron -- which is rapidly becoming the world's dominant strain -- laboratories are also pursuing a vaccine that works against all current and future Covid-19 mutations.
"There's some private sector partners that are pursuing it," said Richard Hatchett, chief executive of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, which funds vaccine research and development.
"That would be the holy grail because we really don't want to be in position where we're chasing the new variants that are going to come.
"We don't want to be in a position where we're having to vaccinate everybody in the world every three or six months, or even annually, ideally."
Top US pandemic advisor Anthony Fauci added: "We really don't want to get into the whack-a-mole approach towards every new variant... because you'd be chasing it forever."
Bancel meanwhile said that Moderna had shipped 807 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine in 2021, of which a quarter went to middle- and low-income countries.
Thanks to extra capacity coming on stream before the end of March, the company hopes to be able to make two to three billion doses this year.
P.Stevenson--AMWN