CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Moderna, Inc. (Nasdaq: MRNA), a biotechnology company pioneering messenger RNA (mRNA) therapeutics and vaccines, today announced an agreement that enables the European Union (EU) and European Economic Area (EEA) countries to donate doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine that they have purchased under the EU Vaccines Strategy to COVAX on an ongoing basis for delivery in 2021. This initiative, led by France, Sweden, and Norway is expected to enable the donation of more than 70 million doses of Moderna vaccine in 2021, including an initial donation of 15 million doses by France and 40 million doses by Germany.
This agreement provides that donations of Moderna vaccine by EU and EEA countries to COVAX will be directed to the 92 Gavi COVAX Advance Market Commitment (AMC) low- and middle-income countries. COVAX is a global initiative co-led by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance (Gavi), the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and the World Health Organization (WHO), to ensure equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines for all countries, regardless of income levels.
“I would like to thank the governments of France, Sweden and Norway, the EU and EEA countries and Gavi for this agreement to facilitate the donation of doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine from the EU Member States to COVAX to help end the pandemic in low-income countries,” said Stéphane Bancel, Chief Executive Officer of Moderna. “We believe that dose sharing, among other strategies, will help ensure an equitable global distribution of COVID-19 vaccines. We remain focused on implementing a comprehensive and always evolving strategy to ensure that low-income countries get access to our vaccine as we seek to help end the pandemic around the world.”
Dose sharing is an important pillar of Moderna’s comprehensive plan to bring vaccines to as many people as possible around the world. On October 21, Stéphane Bancel published a letter on the path forward for global vaccination. On October 8, Stéphane Bancel published a letter on Moderna’s commitment to global vaccine access.
About Moderna
In 10 years since its inception, Moderna has transformed from a science research-stage company advancing programs in the field of messenger RNA (mRNA), to an enterprise with a diverse clinical portfolio of vaccines and therapeutics across six modalities, a broad intellectual property portfolio in areas including mRNA and lipid nanoparticle formulation, and an integrated manufacturing plant that allows for both clinical and commercial production at scale and at unprecedented speed. Moderna maintains alliances with a broad range of domestic and overseas government and commercial collaborators, which has allowed for the pursuit of both groundbreaking science and rapid scaling of manufacturing. Most recently, Moderna’s capabilities have come together to allow the authorized use of one of the earliest and most-effective vaccines against the COVID-19 pandemic.
Moderna’s mRNA platform builds on continuous advances in basic and applied mRNA science, delivery technology and manufacturing, and has allowed the development of therapeutics and vaccines for infectious diseases, immuno-oncology, rare diseases, cardiovascular diseases and autoimmune diseases. Moderna has been named a top biopharmaceutical employer by Science for the past seven years. To learn more, visit www.modernatx.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, as amended, including regarding: the Company’s development of a vaccine against COVID-19 (mRNA-1273); and the donation of doses of mRNA-1273 by EU and EEA countries to the COVAX Facility and the timing for delivery of those doses. The forward-looking statements in this press release are neither promises nor guarantees, and you should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements because they involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors, many of which are beyond Moderna’s control and which could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. These risks, uncertainties, and other factors include those other risks and uncertainties described under the heading “Risk Factors” in Moderna’s most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and in subsequent filings made by Moderna with the SEC, which are available on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. Except as required by law, Moderna disclaims any intention or responsibility for updating or revising any forward-looking statements contained in this press release in the event of new information, future developments or otherwise. These forward-looking statements are based on Moderna’s current expectations and speak only as of the date hereof.
