Moderna, a biotechnology company that pioneers messenger RNA (mRNA) therapeutics and vaccines has announced that it would erect a state-of-the-art mRNA facility in Africa with the aim of manufacturing up to 500 million doses of vaccines every year at the 50 µg dose level.
The company looks forward to investing around $500 million in this new facility. The facility is expected to include manufacturing of drug substances with the opportunity for fill/finish and packaging capabilities at the site. The company also expects to commence a process for country and site selection soon.
While talking about the development, Stephane Bancel, Moderna’s Chief Executive Officer said: “Since Moderna’s founding in 2010, our mission has been to make a transformative impact on human lives through our medicines.
“After a decade of pioneering the development of our mRNA platform, we have been humbled to play a critical role in combatting the COVID-19 pandemic globally with our mRNA vaccine. We view Moderna’s work as only just beginning.
“On behalf of our growing team, partners and shareholders, we are determined to extend Moderna’s societal impact through the investment in a state-of-the-art mRNA manufacturing facility in Africa.
“While we are still working to increase capacity in our current network to deliver vaccines for the ongoing pandemic in 2022, we believe it is important to invest in the future. We expect to manufacture our COVID-19 vaccine as well as additional products within our mRNA vaccine portfolio at this facility.”
Moderna and its partners have worked so hard to ramp up capacity worldwide and have delivered over 500 million doses of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine so far.
As recently announced by the company, there are efforts to continue jerk up capacity at a highly significant pace. This revelation is a new investment targeted at adding a manufacturing site in Africa to Moderna’s growing global network.
