AstraZeneca applies to begin first study in Moderna research collaboration

AstraZeneca has filed a clinical trial application with the Paul Ehrlich Institute and the German Federal Ministry of Health to initiate a phase I study of a promising therapy.

The programme is the first generated through its collaboration with Moderna to progress towards clinical trials. The aim of the alliance is to discover, develop and commercialise messenger mRNA therapeutics to treat serious cardiovascular, metabolic and renal diseases, as well as cancer.

AZD8601 is an investigational mRNA-based therapy discovered and developed in collaboration with Dr Kenneth Chien at the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, and is built upon a decade of pioneering research on heart stem cells in cardiovascular development.

By using modified mRNA to initiate a strong, local and transient surge of VEGF-A expression, it is thought that challenges associated with previous approaches to regulate this protein in tissues could be overcome.

Marcus Schindler, vice-president for innovative medicines and early development at AstraZeneca, said: "AZD8601 could one day provide a unique regenerative treatment option for patients with heart failure, diabetic wound healing and other ischaemic vascular diseases."

This comes after the firm's new ceftazidime-avibactam antibiotic therapy Zavicefta demonstrated a strong performance in new phase III clinical trial results reported earlier this month.