Moderna to bring mRNA vaccine manufacturing to Canada

In a further move to increase its COVID-19 and other vaccines production capacity, US messenger RNA (mRNA) therapeutics and vaccines company Moderna (Nasdaq: MRNA) on Tuesday announced a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the government of Canada to build a state-of-the-art messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccine manufacturing facility in Canada including access to Moderna’s mRNA development engine.

The goals of this MoU are to build the foundation to support Canada with direct access to rapid pandemic response capabilities and to provide access to Moderna’s vaccines in development for respiratory viruses. Product sales of the company’s1 COVID-19 Vaccine Moderna, also dubbed Spikevax, reached $5.9 billion in the first six months of this year.

“I would like to thank the government of Canada for the partnership they have built with us and for their faith in our data, science and early confidence in our mRNA platform in addressing the COVID-19 pandemic. We recently announced data from the final analysis of the Phase III COVE study demonstrating that vaccination with the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine showed 93% efficacy, with this efficacy remaining durable six months after administration of the second dose,” said Stéphane Bancel, chief executive of Moderna, adding: “As a company, we are committed to global public health. While we are still responding to this pandemic, we also want to ensure we and society learn from it. As Moderna expands internationally, we are delighted to bring mRNA manufacturing to Canada. We believe that this innovative business model will have global impact and implications.”