AstraZeneca, along with its global biologics research and development arm, MedImmune, and Moderna Therapeutics announced a new collaboration to discover, co-develop and co-commercialise messenger RNA (mRNA) therapeutic candidates for the treatment of a range of cancers. The collaboration is in addition to the agreement announced by the companies in 2013 to develop mRNA Therapeutics for the treatment of cardiovascular, metabolic and renal diseases as well as selected targets in oncology.

The collaboration will combine MedImmune’s protein engineering and cancer biology expertise with Moderna’s mRNA platform. mRNA-based therapies are an innovative treatment approach that enables the body to produce therapeutic protein in vivo, opening up new treatment options for a wide range of diseases that cannot be addressed today using existing technologies.

Under the terms of the new agreement, AstraZeneca and Moderna, a pioneer of mRNA Therapeutics, have agreed to collaborate on two specific immuno-oncology programmes, based on promising pre-clinical data, including pharmacology in tumour models. Moderna will fund and be responsible for discovery and preclinical development of product candidates, with the aim of delivering one Investigational New Drug (IND) application-ready molecule for each of the two programmes. Moderna’s efforts will be led by its oncology-focused venture, Onkaido. AstraZeneca will be responsible for early clinical development, led by MedImmune, and Moderna and AstraZeneca will share the costs of late-stage clinical development. The two companies will co-commercialise resulting products in the US under a 50:50 profit sharing arrangement. AstraZeneca will lead ex-US commercialisation efforts, with Moderna receiving tiered royalties up to substantial double digits on ex-US sales.

Pascal Soriot, chief executive officer, AstraZeneca, said, “We’re pleased to be expanding our relationship with Moderna with this new collaboration, to advance the potential of pioneering messenger RNA technology in developing game-changing new treatments for cancer patients.”

“Since our companies’ original strategic agreement in March 2013, Moderna’s relationship with AstraZeneca has been very fruitful. This new agreement with AstraZeneca demonstrates the effectiveness of our existing relationship and the power of our mRNA technology,” said Stéphane Bancel, chief executive officer of Moderna. “We’re gratified to deepen our relationship with AstraZeneca and MedImmune with this major initiative, and we look forward to getting underway immediately with our new joint immuno-oncology programmes.”

Under the companies’ original strategic agreement, AstraZeneca holds exclusive access to select any target of its choice in cardiometabolic diseases, as well as select targets in oncology, over a period of up to five years for subsequent development in mRNA. Several projects are progressing towards clinical development under the arrangement, and a first-in-human study is expected to commence in late 2016.

With its novel technology to enable mRNA as a drug, Moderna is building a fully scaled drug discovery and development platform centered on the rapid and low-cost design, delivery and production of mRNA drug candidates. Moderna is also advancing an innovative business model built on the decentralization of drug development activities. With an ecosystem of in-house concept development, ventures focused on therapeutic areas and a cluster of major pharma and biotech partners, Moderna is enabling more than 90 discovery and preclinical programmes today across oncology, infectious diseases, rare diseases and cardiovascular diseases. Moderna’s pipeline also covers a broad expanse of novel drug modalities, each representing a distinct approach to using the company’s novel mRNA expression platform to encode proteins that achieve a therapeutic benefit.