Moderna, Thermo Fisher to Boost mRNA Vaccine Manufacturing

Moderna and Thermo Fisher Scientific recently announced a 15-year collaboration agreement for dedicated large-scale manufacturing of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine and other mRNA vaccines in the US.

Over the past several years, Thermo Fisher Scientific partnered with Moderna to support its development pipeline with clinical research and contract manufacturing services, including the scale-up of aseptic fill-finish services and packaging its COVID-19 vaccine, Spikevax.

In June 2021, the companies entered into an agreement for the manufacturing and packaging of Spikevax in the US. Under the terms of the agreement, Thermo Fisher Scientific provided fill/finish manufacturing services and supply packaging for hundreds of millions of vaccine doses.

As part of the expanded agreement, the company will now provide capacity for a range of aseptic fill/finish services, including lyophilized and liquid filling, and provide inspection, labeling, and final packaging services.

“Thermo Fisher continues to be a trusted partner, bringing a full range of products and services that have enabled us to deliver innovative medicines at an unprecedented speed and scale,” Juan Andres, chief technical operations and quality officer at Moderna, said in the announcement.

“We are pleased to further expand our collaboration with Thermo Fisher as a long-term manufacturing partner that will enable us to continue to build on our mRNA platform and pipeline,” Andres continued.

Moderna’s pipeline includes drugs and vaccines for MMA, CMV, Zika virus, rare diseases, cancers, cardiovascular disease, etc.

In October 2021, Moderna announced that it will build a state-of-the-art mRNA facility in Africa to produce up to 500 million doses of vaccines annually at the 50 microgram dose level.

The company will invest nearly $500 million in the new facility, including drug substance manufacturing with fill/finish and packaging capabilities at each site. In addition, Moderna will begin a country and site selection process this year.  

So far, Moderna and its partners have increased capacity globally and supplied over 500 million doses of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine. And multiple efforts are underway to continue increasing capacity at a significant pace.

Michel Lagarde, executive vice president and chief operating officer of Thermo Fisher Scientific, stated in the recent announcement that Moderna’s innovation in mRNA technology has also been pivotal in the global response to the pandemic.