Today · Gulf EduBy Adria Calatayud GSK is moving a mRNA-based vaccine candidate for seasonal flu to a late-stage clinical trial after it achieved higher immune responses than rival shots in a midstage study. The U.K. drugmaker said Tuesday that its shot showed higher immune responses compared to standard and high-dose flu vaccines in a midstage trial with younger and older adults. GSK said its vaccine was generally well tolerated.
The results of the study pave the way to advance the vaccine candidate to late-stage development, with a new trial due to start this month, the company said. "With one billion flu cases worldwide each year and up to 650,000 deaths there is a need for next generation vaccine approaches," said Sanjay Gurunathan, GSK's head of research and development for vaccines and infectious diseases. Messenger RNA, or mRNA, is the technology that Moderna, as well as Pfizer and BioNTech, used to develop their Covid-19 vaccines.
Moderna and partner Merck recently said an experimental mRNA-based vaccine succeeded in preventing cancer from coming back or spreading in a study of high-risk melanoma patients. GSK said its vaccine is designed to target two primary surface antigens that cause flu viruses to bind and spread. Write to Adria Calatayud at adria.calatayud@wsj.com (END) Dow Jones Newswires September 01, 2026 02:38 ET (06:38 GMT) Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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