Moderna (NASDAQ: MRNA) announced Tuesday that it has reached a deal with the Canadian government to build a new manufacturing plant in Canada to manufacture various mRNA-based vaccines, including the biotech's COVID vaccine. This new deal comes as Canada works to secure more COVID vaccines after struggling through shortages earlier this year.
The new facility, which will be built, owned and operated by Moderna, will fulfill Canadian orders for Moderna mRNA vaccines, including potential COVID booster shots and other vaccines for respiratory viruses, Chief Executive Officer Stéphane Bancel said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal. Bancel said that the company is currently in talks with other governments in countries in Europe and Asia to build similar plants.
The plant will be similar to the company's main manufacturing facility in Norwood, Massachusetts, Bancel added, with the plant likely hiring a couple hundred employees.
"We are excited to expand our presence and continue our long-term collaboration with Canada," Patricia Gauthier, Moderna's lead for Canadian operations, said in a press statement. "With our industry-leading mRNA technology platform and rapid drug development capabilities, we look forward to being an active participant in Canada's robust life sciences ecosystem."
Construction of the facility is expected to be completed by the end of 2024.
Moderna accounts for about one-third of the COVID vaccine doses distributed to Canada, second to the shot developed by Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) and BioNTech (NASDAQ: BNTX), according to WSJ.
Canada had suffered from repeat delays and supply shortages of COVID vaccines as other developed countries like the United States and Israel secured supplies early into the pandemic while other nations struggled to obtain doses. Canada's vaccine shortage became so severe that the nation's government delayed second doses for up to 16 weeks--much longer than the three to four week regimens recommended--and advised citizens to mix and match first and second vaccine doses.
To help alleviate the board nation's outbreak, the Biden administration earlier this year announced plans to ship about 4 million doses of the nation's unused AstraZeneca (NASDAQ: AZN) vaccine to Mexico and Canada. Since then, however, Canada has relied more on the vaccines developed by Moderna and Pfizer after a national advisory panel recommended against use of AstraZeneca's vaccine and advised those who received the first dose to get a different vaccine for their second dose, WSJ reports.
Moderna expects to supply between 800 million and 1 billion doses of its two-shot vaccine this year, and between 2 billion to 3 billion doses in 2022, depending on if its booster candidate is approved by regulators.