Moderna advances pipeline with Phase II of AZD-8601

Moderna Therapeutics Inc. (Cambridge, Mass.) said AZD-8601 will be its first program to advance into Phase II testing. This quarter, the company plans to begin a Phase IIa trial of the candidate, which is partnered with AstraZeneca plc (LSE:AZN; NYSE:AZN), to treat an undisclosed indication. AZD-8601 is an mRNA-based therapy that encodes for vascular endothelial growth factor-A (VEGF-A).

In a pipeline update on Jan. 8, Moderna also said this year it will emphasize the discovery and development of rare disease candidates and prophylactic vaccine candidates. It unveiled two new preclinical compounds: mRNA-3927 to treat propionic acidemia; and mRNA-1944, which encodes an antibody to treat Chikungunya virus. mRNA-3927 combines mRNA-encoded proteins for propionyl-CoA carboxylase alpha subunit (PCCA) and propionyl-CoA carboxylase beta subunit (PCCB)...