Moderna signs up Lonza to boost scale-up of mRNA vaccine for coronavirus
Collaboration leverages CDMO’s expertise in tech transfer and manufacturing to aim for 1 million doses per day
Moderna has signed up CDMO Lonza to support larger scale manufacturing of its mRNA vaccine, mRNA-1273, against COVID-19 in a ten-year strategic agreement, the two companies announced on Friday.
Stéphane Bancel, chief executive officer at Moderna said the long-term collaboration would allow the firm to accelerate its manufacturing capacity for mRNA-1273 tenfold.
“Lonza’s global presence and expertise are critical as we scale at unprecedented speed. Our common goal is to potentially enable manufacturing of up to 1 billion doses of mRNA-1273,” he said.
Albert Baehny, chairman and interim CEO at Lonza said the current pandemic illustrated the need to combine the best science with resilient supply chains that can scale.
“We are fully committed to leveraging our global network and experience in manufacturing technologies to support Moderna’s manufacture of mRNA-1273 as well as collaborating on future Moderna products,” he added.
Under the terms of the agreement, manufacturing suites will be established at Lonza’s facilities in the US and Switzerland. Technology transfer is expected to begin in June 2020, and the companies intend to manufacture the first batches of mRNA-1273 at Lonza US in July 2020.
The two partners said that over time, they intend to establish additional production suites across Lonza’s global facilities to be able to produce up to 1 billion doses of mRNA-1273 per year for worldwide use worldwide assuming the currently expected dose of 50 µg.
Last month, Moderna was awarded a grant of up to USD483 million from US government agency Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) to accelerate development of mRNA-1273.
The money will also be used to fund manufacturing process scale-up to enable large-scale production in 2020 for pandemic response and Moderna plans to hire 150 new team members to support these efforts.
Last week, Moderna said it had submitted an Investigational New Drug (IND) application to the US Food and Drug Administration for Phase 2 – expected to start this quarter - and late stage studies of mRNA-1273 if supported by safety data from a Phase 1 study.
Related News
-
News mRNA therapy for ovarian cancer and muscle wasting
Researchers demonstrate results of a promising mRNA therapy for ovarian cancer and muscle wasting caused by cachexia, a condition associated with various types of cancers and chronic diseases. -
News Pfizer CentreOne Content Refinement Q3 media buy
For 40 years Pfizer CentreOne has been guiding drug projects to success. Here’s how our services make us an altogether different kind of CDMO: -
News Bora Pharmaceuticals expands development and manufacturing capacity with landmark acquisition
Taiwan-based CDMO Bora Pharmaceuticals have acquired niche generic drugs developer TWi Pharmaceuticals, expanding their outsourced development and manufacturing services with two additional manufacturing facilities. -
News Lonza and Touchlight collaboration to bring expanded end-to-end mRNA offerings
Through a collaboration with biotech company Touchlight, Lonza is set to expand their end-to-end offering for mRNA manufacturing with additional DNA raw material sources, including Touchlight’s doggybone DNA. -
News Oxford University presents promising phase II data for malaria vaccine
The malaria vaccine R21/Matrix-M, developed by researchers at Oxford University, has produced encouraging new data for the global effort against the mosquito-borne disease. -
News NextPharma to acquire Norway manufacturing site from Takeda
Biopharmaceutical company Takeda and CDMO NextPharma have announced an acquisition agreement in which Takeda will divest from their Asker, Norway manufacturing site, set to be acquired by NextPharma. -
News Gut instinct: molecular link between COVID-19 and serotonin cells in the gut
New research may provide further evidence of the gut’s role in SARS-CoV-2 infection and disease severity with a molecular link between serotonin-producing cells in the gut and COVID-19 disease severity. -
News Novavax COVID-19 vaccine receives backing from European Medicines Agency
The European Medicines Agency has backed the Nuvaxovid COVID-19 vaccine for adults as a booster shot to other COVID-19 vaccines.
Position your company at the heart of the global Pharma industry with a CPHI Online membership
-
Your products and solutions visible to thousands of visitors within the largest Pharma marketplace
-
Generate high-quality, engaged leads for your business, all year round
-
Promote your business as the industry’s thought-leader by hosting your reports, brochures and videos within your profile
-
Your company’s profile boosted at all participating CPHI events
-
An easy-to-use platform with a detailed dashboard showing your leads and performance