Louis Pasteur's Vaccine Successor Bets on mRNA
Vaccine giant Sanofi is buying out its partner in mRNA development, Translate Bio, in another validation of the promise of the technology.
Is mRNA the future of vaccines? Sanofi is spending billions, just in case.
Photographer: Nathan Laine/BloombergSanofi is one of the world's largest vaccine makers, with billions in reliable annual sales coming from the business. With its $3.2 billion purchase of Translate Bio Inc., announced Tuesday, the company is coopting a possible disruptor.
Translate focuses on messenger RNA, the promising new approach behind the wildly successful Covid vaccines from Pfizer Inc.-BioNTech SE and Moderna Inc. Sanofi first partnered with Translate to explore mRNA vaccines in 2018, then expanded the partnership last year to work on a Covid vaccine. Now it’s making a bigger bet on the biotech startup. It's yet another validation of the potential of mRNA vaccines, and even though uncertainty remains, this deal helps Sanofi prepare for the future at a reasonable price.