In the second part of In Vivo's series on mRNA manufacturing, we look at the technology behind the Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines. Experts in the field are working on a variety of improvements that will enable quicker, cheaper, surer development and production of what could turn out to be a wide array of vaccines and therapeutics to be churned out by emerging mRNA platforms.

Merck’s third quarter beat analyst consensus and the company raised its guidance. The COVID-19-battered vaccines business began to improve but Gardasil’s recovery was slower than expected.

The expectation of a big second quarter sales decline proved true, but the situation is improving. Meanwhile, Merck & Co. is advancing two vaccines and an antiviral against the novel coronavirus. 

GlaxoSmithKline has published results from its latest Phase IIb trial of its investigational tuberculosis vaccine that show a subunit vaccine can reduce pulmonary TB, possibly leading the way for the first new vaccine for TB in over 90 years.