Sanofi to Progress 10 New Candidates in Vaccine Pipeline

Sanofi plans to advance 10 vaccine candidates into the clinic by 2025, the company announced this week.

Six of those candidates will leverage the mRNA Center of Excellence that the company established in June, into which it pledged to pump $500 million a year.

Thomas Triomphe, executive vice president of Sanofi Pasteur, said in a Dec. 1 investor webcast that the company has significantly escalated its focus on mRNA this year due to lessons learned from the pandemic. “Based on what we know now, the platform of choice for any future pandemic is mRNA, but in February 2020, no one knew this,” he said.

A giant in the vaccine industry that hasn’t yet had success in the COVID-19 space, the company said sustained growth will be driven by its four core franchises: influenza, meningitis, PPH3 and boosters, as well as the planned launch of nirsevimab, a first-in-class monoclonal antibody for all infant protection against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).