Over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, Massachusetts’ mRNA upstart Moderna has pivoted from clinical-stage biotech to commercial juggernaut, charting several transatlantic manufacturing expansions along the way. Now, the company is laying the groundwork for the next leg of its production journey, which will be based in the United Kingdom.
Moderna has clinched an agreement in principle with the U.K. to erect an mRNA Innovation and Technology Center in the country. The facility is expected to shore up access to “rapid pandemic response capabilities,” plus Moderna’s pipeline of respiratory virus vaccine prospects, the biotech said Tuesday.
The company further aims to expand its U.K. footprint through investments in research and development, too.
Moderna’s announcement confirms a Financial Times report from February that claimed the company was in late-stage talks with the U.K. to invest in local research and production. Under the deal talks, Moderna had been pegged to join forces with the country’s National Health Services (NHS) for clinical trial work, the FT said earlier this year. Aside from the manufacturing facility, Moderna’s U.K. accord was also expected to see the biotech hire staffers to run clinical trials with NHS, FT added in its February report.
As for potential production locales, the news outlet earlier said Moderna had its sights set on the U.K.’s “Golden Triangle” comprising London, Oxford and Cambridge.
In its latest release, however, Moderna didn’t specify where in the U.K. it plans to set up the mRNA Innovation and Technology Center. Further, the company is keeping mum on its investment in the facility, as well as the size and capacity of the upcoming plant.
In tandem with the U.K. government, the new facility is expected to crank out mRNA shots for diseases like COVID-19, seasonal flu and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), plus “potential other vaccines,” Moderna said in its release.
Part and parcel of the facility’s design is its ability to be activated “on an urgent basis,” Moderna said. This would theoretically allow the company to offer the U.K. “direct access” to “rapid” pandemic countermeasures, Moderna explained. The move falls under the U.K.’s “100 Days Mission,” which aims to blunt the force of future pandemics.
At present, meanwhile, the Massachusetts-based biotech is working with Britain’s National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) on a late-stage trial of a bivalent, Omicron-containing booster hopeful in the U.K. The U.K. has ordered 60 million doses of Moderna’s mRNA shot for delivery this year and next, “which may include authorized booster candidates” if a follow-up dose passes muster with regulators, the company said.
Moderna’s commitment to the U.K. follows similar manufacturing moves in places such as Africa, Canada and Australia. Separately, the biotech in February blueprinted plans to debut four subsidiaries in Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan in a bid to expand its commercial network across Asia. Days later, the company said it would establish commercial teams in six European countries.