The latest deal is said to leverage an existing agreement between the two companies established in 2018 for the development of mRNA vaccines for infectious diseases.
Translate Bio CEO Ronald Renaud said: “The Translate Bio and Sanofi Pasteur teams have generated encouraging preclinical data across multiple infectious disease targets, as part of our ongoing mRNA vaccine collaboration. This work will serve as a strong foundation as we direct joint research efforts against COVID-19 to help address this public health threat.”
Translate Bio, which has started the production of multiple mRNA constructs, will apply its mRNA platform to discover, design, and manufacture multiple SARS-CoV-2 vaccine candidates.
Sanofi will offer deep vaccine expertise, as well as support from its external research networks to progress vaccine candidates for potential further development.
Translate Bio has created 100g single-batch production by using its clinical-stage mRNA therapeutics platform.
The company, along with a contract manufacturing partner, has involved in the creation of manufacturing space to produce at least two 250g batches per month.
Based on the final human dose, Translate Bio’s mRNA platform is expected to better meet the future demands for a pandemic response.
In February, Sanofi has also entered into a collaboration with the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) for the advancement of a novel COVID-19 vaccine candidate.
The deal with BARDA enables Sanofi to commence the development of a recombinant and protein-based vaccine candidate against COVID-19.
Sanofi vaccines global head David Loew said: “We are committed to leveraging different ways to address the COVID-19 public health crisis by testing treatments, as well as two vaccines using different platforms. We believe the more approaches we explore, the better our likelihood of success in achieving this goal.”
In December 2019, Sanofi agreed to acquire US-based clinical-stage biotechnology company Synthorx for about $2.5bn.