On Thursday, Moderna announced that it is developing a vaccine booster with double benefits. It would work against both COVID and the seasonal flu. Moderna shares rose by over 5 percent after the announcement. Moderna also announced that it was developing vaccines for children.

In a statement on research and development day 2021 the company said that it is developing a combined vaccine called mRNA-1073 that encodes for both the spike protein in SARS Cov2 or COVID as well as HA glycoproteins in flu.

On Thursday, CEO Stephane Bancel said that they were announcing their first step in their novel respiratory program which would combine a booster against COVID-19 and a booster against flu in a single dose.

He also said that they were progressing in enrolling patients in their rare diseases program. They also had enrollment in their personalized cancer vaccine trial. He also said that Moderna believed that it was the beginning of a new age of “information-based medicines.”

The two-dose based Moderna vaccine had received emergency approval authorization by the FDA in December 2020 and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said that Americans have received over 147 million shots of the Moderna vaccine.

Moderna also announced that it was developing a pediatric vaccine. The vaccine for children is called mRNA1365. It will combine vaccines for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), cases of which have been seen seasonally earlier than normal this year and human metapneumovirus.

The company also said that the European Union and other jurisdictions have given it authorization for using its COVID-19 vaccine for children   ages 12 and above. On August 25, it completed the process for a biologics license application for its vaccine in the nation.

The company also said that it had 37 programs that were in development across 34 development candidates which included 22 ongoing clinical studies. Its cash position, end August was approximately $15 billion.