On a quest to grow its mRNA empire, Moderna is aiming straight for the heart of the United Kingdom’s life science scene.
The company pinpointed the Harwell Science Campus in Oxfordshire, England, as the home of its upcoming Innovation and Technology Center.
Expected to come online by 2025, the facility, also known as the MITC, will aim to supply the U.K. with mRNA vaccines for a “wide range” of respiratory diseases, according to Moderna. The facility will work on shots for diseases such as COVID-19, seasonal flu and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), alongside other potential vaccines, Moderna said last year.
The location places Moderna within the U.K.’s biopharma-rich “Golden Triangle” between London, Oxford and Cambridge.
Construction is set to begin sometime in 2023. Moderna believes the endeavor will create “hundreds of jobs” both during the build-out and long-term operation.
Last Summer, Moderna struck a preliminary deal with the U.K. to erect the MITC as part of an effort to shore up access to “rapid pandemic response capabilities.” At the time, Moderna said it was designing the facility to be activated “on an urgent basis.” The move falls under the U.K.’s “100 Days Mission,” which aims to blunt the force of future pandemics.
Moderna’s U.K. accord became final in late December, the same month the company said the MITC would eventually be able to churn out 250 million vaccine doses annually.
Beyond the U.S. and U.K., Moderna has charted similar mRNA manufacturing moves in places like Africa, Canada and Australia. Separately, the company last February blueprinted plans to debut four commercial subsidiaries in Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan.
Meanwhile, the U.K. move comes at a somewhat tumultuous time for the British life sciences sector.
Early this year, AbbVie and Eli Lilly mounted an exodus from the U.K.’s Voluntary Scheme for Branded Medicines Pricing and Access thanks to a recent spike in government repayment rates. The move should be viewed as a “warning signal” to the U.K. that pharma companies may be unwilling to shoulder “increasingly punitive revenue clawbacks,” the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) said in January.
Elsewhere, AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot recently credited the company’s decision to build a $400 million API facility in Ireland, not England, on the “discouraging” tax rate in the U.K.
Talking to reporters on a recent conference call, Soriot said that despite the U.K. government’s efforts to make the country a life sciences powerhouse, punitive tax rates are forcing decision-makers to look elsewhere.