Home health remedies Moderna eyes UK for next leg of mRNA vaccine manufacturing journey: report

Moderna eyes UK for next leg of mRNA vaccine manufacturing journey: report

49
0
SHARE

Moderna has already seized domestic manufacturing opportunities in Canada, Australia and Africa. Now, the mRNA pioneer is setting its sights on the U.K.’s “Golden Triangle” for the next leg of its vaccine journey, the Financial Times reports. 

The company is in late-stage talks with the U.K. to invest in local research and manufacturing, the publication said Sunday. Under the deal, Moderna would also team up with the U.K.’s National Health Service (NHS) for clinical trial work, the FT added. 

The plan would see Moderna hire staffers to run clinical trials with the NHS, the FT says. Additionally, the biotech would help bolster the U.K.’s pandemic preparedness by building out a manufacturing facility that could swiftly pivot to tackle emerging health threats, the publication noted. 

The biotech is homing in on a “significant investment” in its planned U.K. operation, people familiar with the matter told the news outlet. The company did not immediately reply to Fierce Pharma’s request for comment on the matter. 

RELATED: BioNTech advocate accused of undermining WHO’s African mRNA production campaign: report

Moderna is sizing up sites in the “Golden Triangle” of London, Oxford and Cambridge for the project, the FT reports. 

The deal would form a “key element” of the U.K.’s post-Brexit strategy to cement its position as a life sciences hub, according to the FT. 

Somewhat tellingly, U.K. health secretary Sajid Javid last week met with Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel. After their “fantastic” meeting, the health secretary tweeted: “The U.K. is ideally placed to become a life sciences superpower, and collaboration with world leading companies is crucial to this.”

RELATED: COVID vaccines help Pfizer, Moderna reign supreme reputation-wise, but they’re a double-edged sword for J&J and AZ

Just three years ago, Moderna had no marketed products. That all changed in 2020 with the advent of the company’s massively successful mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccine. Alongside Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna has solidified its spot as one of the vanguards in the pandemic fight—and reaped billions in pandemic sales as a result. 

That success has already prompted the company to size up manufacturing opportunities outside the U.S. In August, Moderna inked a memorandum of understanding with Canada to build an mRNA vaccine manufacturing facility.

Alongside its COVID-19 vaccine, Moderna could eventually use the site to provide Canadians with vaccines against other respiratory diseases such as seasonal influenza and respiratory syncytial virus, assuming those shots pass muster with regulators, the company said at the time. The company has forged a similar deal with Australia.

Elsewhere, Moderna is plotting a $500 million mRNA plant in Africa, which could eventually produce up to 500 million doses of injectables at the 50-µg dose level. Moderna in October said the site selection process would kick off imminently.

Source link

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

5 × 4 =