A View On - Lonza Podcast

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Delivering mRNA Therapies: A Bullseye for Asthma and Future Pandemics

In this episode, we speak with Carsten Rudolph, CEO and co-founder of Ethris, about a novel spray-dried mRNA therapy designed to restore immune balance at the respiratory epithelium to prevent exacerbations in asthma patients and potentially help prepare for future pandemics.

This episode of A View On takes us deep into the lungs, where science, engineering, and medicine converge. Our guest, Carsten Rudolph, CEO and co-founder of Ethris, explains how his team is developing inhalable mRNA-based therapies for chronic respiratory conditions like asthma, rare diseases such as primary ciliary dyskinesia, and even protection in the case of future COVID-19-like pandemics.

Ethris’ lead therapeutic candidate delivers instructions to lung cells to produce a protein that helps the respiratory tract fight off infections by strengthening the body’s innate immune response. In asthma patients, this immune response is often weakened, so restoring it could help prevent attacks. Unlike vaccines, which target specific viruses, the effect is virus-agnostic, and therefore, the same therapy could also be used preventively in vulnerable groups during pandemic outbreaks, offering protection before a tailored vaccine is available.

It’s a powerful example of how mRNA therapies could move out of the lab and into to real-world use, improving chronic care while helping the world prepare for what comes next.

Curious to Learn More?

In this episode of A View On, we speak with Carsten Rudolph, CEO and co-founder of Ethris, about a novel spray-dried mRNA therapy that targets local immunity in the lungs. Designed to restore interferon lambda signaling in asthma patients, the therapy is also room temperature-stable and virus-agnostic—making it a promising candidate for pandemic preparedness. Tune in to hear how formulation science, lipid carriers, and inhalable delivery are reshaping the future of respiratory care.

*The presented information was correct and current at the time of publication.

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KEY TERMS:

Ethris’ lead therapeutic uses mRNA technology to encode interferon lambda (IFN-λ), a protein that plays a key role in defending our throat and lungs from viral infections. By restoring innate immunity at the site of infection, the therapy aims to reduce both the severity and frequency of these attacks.

A major innovation in the Ethris–Lonza collaboration is the ability to spray-dry mRNA into a room temperature-stable powder, allowing for easier storage, transport, and self-administration, critical factors for both chronic care and pandemic response.

The therapies and vaccines are delivered using cationic lipidoids, lipid-like molecules with higher mRNA-carrying capacity that also help retain the drug at the delivery site, such as the lungs.

To withstand the stresses of spray drying and delivery, the formulations include a stabilizer—an excipient that protects the fragile mRNA and lipid structures from aggregation and breakdown during handling and inhalation.

Looking further ahead, Ethris is also exploring nasally administered mRNA vaccines aimed at achieving mucosal sterile immunity—blocking pathogens at their entry point and potentially reducing transmission altogether. Its first candidate will target influenza.

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