Moderna signs deal with Lonza to make potential Covid-19 vaccine
Moderna has signed a deal with Swiss healthcare manufacturer Lonza to expand manufacturing of its potential vaccine for Covid-19, after the Boston-based biotech received almost $500m from the US government to bolster production.
The companies will start manufacturing the vaccine candidate together in the US in July. Then they will expand production to Switzerland and later other sites around the world, as they gear up to eventually make a billion doses a year.
No financial details were disclosed for the partnership, which will last 10 years and include Moderna’s other potential vaccines for conditions including a strand of flu and Zika.
Earlier this week, Moderna said it had applied for permission to move to the next stage of human trials for the Covid-19 vaccine candidate, intending to enrol 600 healthy participants.
May 4, 2020