Moderna Announces Expansion of its Manufacturing Technology Center in Massachusetts

Rhea-AI Summary

Moderna, Inc. (Nasdaq: MRNA) has announced an expansion of the Moderna Technology Center in Norwood, MA, set to more than double its space from 300,000 to 650,000 square feet. This growth will enhance production capabilities, particularly for the COVID-19 vaccine, expecting a 50% increase in output by early 2022. The expansion supports plans for global capacity reaching up to 3 billion doses in 2022, and focuses on technical development and preclinical production. The facility integrates advanced technologies and adheres to environmental standards.

Positive

• Expansion of production and lab space from 300,000 sq ft to 650,000 sq ft.
• Expected 50% increase in COVID-19 vaccine production by early 2022.
• Global capacity projected to reach up to 3 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccine in 2022.
• Enhanced capability for technical development and preclinical production.

Negative

• None.

Moderna, Inc. (Nasdaq: MRNA), a biotechnology company pioneering messenger RNA (mRNA) therapeutics and vaccines, today announced an expansion of the Moderna Technology Center (MTC) in Norwood, MA including more than doubling of space to transform the facility from a production and lab space to an industrial technology center.

This expansion includes increasing the Company’s production and lab space from approximately 300,000 square feet to approximately 650,000 square feet through renovation of existing space and acquisition of a 240,000 square foot building located on the same campus for expansion of its commercial and clinical activities.

“Our manufacturing facility has been core to our long-term strategy and has enabled us to provide the scale and flexibility to support the development of our mRNA medicines and vaccines including our COVID-19 vaccine,” said Stéphane Bancel, Chief Executive Officer of Moderna. “We believe that this investment and expansion at our technology center will allow us to continue to optimize our mRNA products as we explore new pharmaceutical delivery forms such as prefilled syringes and lyophilized products. As we grow, we are committed to minimizing our environmental footprint.”

This expansion will support a 50% increase in production of the Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine at Moderna’s manufacturing site, which is expected to ramp up in late 2021 and early 2022. On April 29, Moderna announced an investment at its owned and partnered manufacturing facilities that it expects will increase 2022 global capacity to up to 3 billion doses of its COVID-19 vaccine, depending upon the mix between the authorized Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine at the 100 μg dose level and potentially lower doses of the Company’s variant booster candidates and pediatric vaccines, if authorized. The Company also raised its 2021 manufacturing supply forecast to between 800 million to 1 billion doses.

Additionally, this expansion includes an increase in Moderna’s technical development capacity and preclinical production capability with the goal of producing thousands of preclinical samples per month for research and development. The expanded facility will also help facilitate the Company’s increased focus and investment in technical capabilities such as expansion of shelf-life stability and new pharmaceutical delivery forms such as prefilled syringes and lyophilized products.

Moderna opened its manufacturing site in July 2018. The Moderna Technology Center manufacturing site was named the ISPE Facility of the Future in 2019 and is among the most integrated end-to-end process facilities in the pharmaceutical industry. Digital technology is integrated throughout the site—the entire research, development and production process incorporates advanced robotics, machine learning, artificial intelligence and creative design. Designed to Current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMP), this expansion gives the Company the capacity and flexibility to support the manufacture of the Company’s commercial COVID-19 vaccine and the other programs in Moderna’s clinical development pipeline. In addition, the site was built with attention to environmental issues and with LEED certification principles in mind.

About Moderna

In 10 years since its inception, Moderna has transformed from a science research-stage company advancing programs in the field of messenger RNA (mRNA), to an enterprise with a diverse clinical portfolio of vaccines and therapeutics across six modalities, a broad intellectual property portfolio in areas including mRNA and lipid nanoparticle formulation, and an integrated manufacturing plant that allows for both clinical and commercial production at scale and at unprecedented speed. Moderna maintains alliances with a broad range of domestic and overseas government and commercial collaborators, which has allowed for the pursuit of both groundbreaking science and rapid scaling of manufacturing. Most recently, Moderna’s capabilities have come together to allow the authorized use of one of the earliest and most-effective vaccines against the COVID-19 pandemic.

Moderna’s mRNA platform builds on continuous advances in basic and applied mRNA science, delivery technology and manufacturing, and has allowed the development of therapeutics and vaccines for infectious diseases, immuno-oncology, rare diseases, cardiovascular diseases and auto-immune diseases. Today, 24 development programs are underway acr

FAQ

What is Moderna's plan for expanding its facilities?

Moderna plans to expand the Moderna Technology Center in Norwood, MA, by increasing its space from 300,000 sq ft to 650,000 sq ft.

How much will Moderna increase its COVID-19 vaccine production?

Moderna expects a 50% increase in production of its COVID-19 vaccine by early 2022.

What is the global capacity for Moderna's vaccine in 2022?

Moderna's global capacity for its COVID-19 vaccine is projected to reach up to 3 billion doses in 2022.

What new capabilities will the expanded facility provide?

The expanded facility will enhance technical development and preclinical production capabilities for Moderna.

How is Moderna addressing environmental concerns with the expansion?

The expansion is designed with attention to environmental issues and adheres to LEED certification principles.