Moderna announced it will build a state-of-the-art mRNA facility in Africa to produce up to 500 million doses of vaccines each year at the 50 µg dose level. The company anticipates investing up to US $ 500 million in this new facility which is expected to include drug substance manufacturing with the opportunity for fill/finish and packaging capabilities at the site. The company expects to begin a process for country and site selection soon.

According to Stephane Bancel, Moderna’s Chief Executive Officer. “On behalf of our growing team, partners and shareholders, we are determined to extend Moderna’s societal impact through the investment in a state-of-the-art mRNA manufacturing facility in Africa. While we are still working to increase capacity in our current network to deliver vaccines for the ongoing pandemic in 2022, we believe it is important to invest in the future. We expect to manufacture our Covid-19 vaccine as well as additional products within our mRNA vaccine portfolio at this facility.”

Moderna’s pipeline includes 20 vaccine candidates in its prophylactic vaccines modality including vaccines against respiratory viruses, vaccines against latent viruses and vaccines against threats to global public health.