Moderna (NSDQ:MRNA) announced today that Laboratorios Farmacéuticos Rovi has agreed to make Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine candidate in its Madrid, Spain facility.
The contract for large-scale, commercial fill-finish manufacturing in Spain is but the latest that Moderna has secured as it moves forward with Phase 3 of the clinical trial for its COVID-19 vaccine candidate. Moderna in late June announced a deal to produce the vaccine at a biologics facility that Catalent (NYSE:CTLT) has in Bloomington, Ind.
Rovi as part of its agreement with Moderna will procure a new production line and equipment for compounding, filling, automatic visual inspection and labeling to support the production of hundreds of millions of doses of the vaccine candidate. The goal is to supply markets outside of the U.S. starting in early 2021. ROVI will also hire additional staffing required to support manufacturing operations and production.
“Moderna is committed to helping address the COVID-19 crisis. We are pleased to partner with Rovi to potentially supply hundreds of millions of doses of finished mRNA-1273, once approved, and help address the need for a vaccine against COVID-19 around the world,” Moderna CTO Juan Andres said in a news release. “Rovi’s experience as a global manufacturer of drug product and expertise in fill-finish will be an important partnership for us to establish dedicated supply chains that can meet the needs of different countries and regions. I am delighted to be working with Rovi again.”
Good to hear. moderna seems to be on the ball in the race for an effective vaccine Here’s hoping we have a vaccine by year’s end. That would be great!