Moderna Inc. (NASDAQ: MRNA) announced Thursday it has begun shipping the first mRNA vaccines fully manufactured in Canada to provinces and territories, marking a historic milestone in the country’s domestic vaccine production capacity.
The Cambridge, Massachusetts-based pharmaceutical company said the achievement advances Canada’s national health security after years of dependence on international vaccine supply chains during the pandemic.
“This is not just about local manufacturing, it’s about scientific leadership, national health security and ensuring Canadians have timely access to the latest mRNA medicines,” said Stéphane Bancel, Moderna’s chief executive officer.
The vaccines are being produced at Moderna’s new state-of-the-art facility in Laval, Quebec — the company’s first manufacturing plant outside the United States. Final processing occurs at a Novocol Pharma facility in Cambridge, Ontario.
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Health Canada authorized Moderna’s updated COVID-19 vaccine targeting the SARS-CoV-2 LP.8.1 variant in August for individuals six months and older. The Laval facility can produce up to 100 million mRNA vaccine doses annually.
The milestone comes more than five years after Canada raced to secure COVID-19 vaccines early in the pandemic, when domestic production capacity was virtually nonexistent. The federal government has invested more than $2.5 billion in the country’s biomanufacturing sector since March 2020.
Industry Minister Mélanie Joly called the development “a major achievement for Canada’s biomanufacturing and life sciences sector” that strengthens national security and creates jobs.
Moderna plans to expand production at the Quebec facility next year to include vaccines for respiratory syncytial virus and potentially other mRNA treatments, including cancer therapies.
The company’s Canadian operations are part of a broader government strategy to build domestic vaccine manufacturing capabilities in preparation for future health emergencies.
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One Response
And a coup in the research world as the US balks at mRNA technology with RFK now at the helm as a total conspiracy theorist who is blocking that research south of the border. We are benefiting from advancing medical research as they fall behind listening to “leaders” who know nothing at all about science and only want to push their own agendas. Sad for them. Great news for us.