Pharmaceutical giant Moderna has suddenly begun ramping up its production of Covid mRNA shots despite the dwindling demand for the products.
The company has ordered substantial expansions to its manufacturing capacity at multiple plants around the world.
However, the company has not provided an explanation of why it would increase production of the shots while the pandemic is long over and demand for the vaccines is continuing to wane.
However, the company is also quietly boosting production in several other countries too.
Canada:
Moderna says construction of its new mRNA vaccine factory in Laval, Que. will begin later this year, with production expected to begin by the end of 2024.
It will be the pharmaceutical giant’s first manufacturing facility outside the United States and cost an estimated $180 million to construct.
Australia:
US biotech company Moderna has reached an in-principle agreement to build an mRNA vaccine manufacturing facility in Victoria.
“It will become the first mRNA manufacturing facility in the Southern Hemisphere. Moderna expects to produce up to 100 million vaccine doses each year in Australia.
UK:
Expected to come online by 2025, the facility, also known as the MITC, will aim to supply the U.K. with mRNA vaccines for a “wide range” of respiratory diseases, according to Moderna. […]
Last Summer, Moderna struck a preliminary deal with the U.K. to erect the MITC as part of an effort to shore up access to “rapid pandemic response capabilities.”
At the time, Moderna said it was designing the facility to be activated “on an urgent basis.”
The move falls under the U.K.’s “100 Days Mission,” which aims to blunt the force of the “next pandemic.”
Japan (pending government vaccine deal):
On a “vaccine diplomacy” trip this week to Japan, Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel told the Nikkei news outlet that the company would build a manufacturing facility there, contingent upon securing a long-term vaccine deal with the government.
The plant would be an end-to-end producer of shots for COVID, flu, and any other vaccines the company might develop with its mRNA technology platform, Bancel told the publication, while referencing moves the company has made in Australia, Canada, and England.”
China:
Moderna began construction of its first facility in China this month to manufacture mRNA medicines, the company said.
Spain – expanded capacity at Rovi:
This new agreement, which has a term of ten years, includes a series of investments expected to allow the manufacturing capacity to increase across ROVI’s facilities in Madrid, Spain.
In addition to producing Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine, ROVI’s platform could also be utilized to service future Moderna mRNA vaccine candidates.
According to my inside source at Moderna: the new capacity is not for flu vaccines, but it could be.
The most likely next product to reach the market is flu vax and they are planning it for this coming fall (2024).
However, this manufacturing expansion is too large if all of it is just for the flu product, considering that covid boosters were ~20% uptake.
The estimates of capacity are based on what was available for Covid vs what is being built out now.
For Covid, they had Norwood MA, Lonza NH, Lonza Swss, and Rovi Spain.
Now they will have Norwood whose capacity will be 2x what it was during Covid, Canada, Australia, the UK, Rovi Spain, and possibly Japan and China
It seems that they are building these facilities in anticipation.
There are no new products approved except the Covid vax which is questionable at best.
They are also building capacity for Personalized Vaccine Treatment – cancer gene therapy products.
The company appears to be preparing for a a major Covid outbreak ahead of the 2024 election.
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