Merck ends development of two COVID-19 vaccine candidates
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Merck said it has discontinued development of two COVID-19 vaccine candidates.
In a phase 1 trial, the discontinued candidates, V590 and V591, were well tolerated but demonstrated “inferior” immune responses compared with natural infection or those found in other COVID-19 vaccine candidates, the company said.
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V590 used the same recombinant vesicular stomatitis virus technology that is the basis for Merck’s FDA-approved Ebola virus vaccine, and V591 used a measles virus vector platform.
“The fewer vaccines [that] make it to market, the lower the global production capacity will be," Florian Krammer, PhD, a professor of vaccinology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, told Healio. “I liked both approaches Merck took, and it is unfortunate that development is not going to continue.”
Merck said the results of the phase 1 trials will be submitted for publication in a peer-reviewed journal.
The company said it will continue to advance clinical programs for its MK-7110 and MK-4482 investigational COVID-19 medicines. MK-7110 is a fusion protein that modulates inflammatory response for SARS-CoV-2, and MK-4482, which is being developed in collaboration with Ridgeback Biotherapeutics, is an antiviral agent that is currently undergoing phase 2 and 3 trials.
“We are grateful to our collaborators who worked with us on these vaccine candidates and to the volunteers in the trials,” Dean Y. Li, MD, PhD, president of Merck Research Laboratories, said in a press release. “We are resolute in our commitment to contribute to the global effort to relieve the burden of this pandemic on patients, health care systems and communities.”
References:
Merck. IAVI and Merck Collaborate to Develop Vaccine Against SARS-CoV-2. https://www.merck.com/news/iavi-and-merck-collaborate-to-develop-vaccine-against-sars-cov-2/. Accessed January 25, 2021.
Merck. Third-quarter 2020 results. https://www.merck.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2020/10/Sales-Earnings-3Q-2020-Infographic_10_26_MRK.pdf. Accessed January 25, 2021.
Perspective
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One year ago this month, the genetic sequence of the SARS-CoV-2 virus circulating in Wuhan, China, was identified. Since then, the race has been on to build new vaccines and therapeutics capable of ending this generation-defining pandemic. Early successes from Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca and Janssen made it appear, on the surface, that vaccine development was not as difficult as some had made it out to be. Yet nothing could be further from the truth. Vaccine development is exceedingly challenging; in addition to vaccine safety (which is paramount), scientists and developers must balance the contents of vaccines, speed of manufacturing and, of course, immune responses before advancing a vaccine candidate. The news that Merck’s SARS-CoV-2 vaccine candidates will be discontinued because of suboptimal immune responses is certainly disappointing; however, we expect that not all attempts at creating a vaccine for SARS-CoV-2 will be successful. This reality is precisely the reason we have established clear paths to FDA authorization and approval; every vaccine that goes into the arms of children and adults in the United States has been rigorously evaluated in the laboratory, in animals and then in carefully designed, stepwise clinical trials in humans. Therefore, although we are disheartened by the loss of a weapon in our COVID-19 arsenal, we are also encouraged that the rigorous system we have in place for evaluation of vaccines remains robust. And we cheer on the efforts that Merck and others will continue to make that are focused on immunotherapeutics, antivirals and additional vaccines.
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