Moderna, a US-based biopharmaceutical company with an expertise in messenger RNA (mRNA), has announced updates in the two years since it signed a ten-year partnership with the UK Government.

Moderna has announced the completion of its new R&D facility, which will hold the potential to manufacture a minimum of 250 million vaccine doses per year. The Moderna Innovation and Technology Centre (MITC) is based at the Harwell Campus in Oxfordshire, UK, and holds state-of-the-art labs and office spaces that provide pivotal support for highpriority pre-clinical and clinical-stage assays.

Shortly after the COVID-19 pandemic affected the global population, the UK Government signed a deal with Moderna to accelerate vaccine production and research, meaning the UK has access to UK-produced vaccines in the event of another pandemic. As such, the first vaccine expected to be produced is for COVID-19, in order to support the NHS immunisation programme.

General manager of Moderna UK, Darius Hughes, commented: "We have made remarkable progress since initiating our unique strategic partnership with the UK Government two years ago. Later this year, this state-of-the-art facility will be ready to deliver British-made COVID-19 vaccines, ensuring a robust supply for the UK public. Through our partnership, Moderna is committed to becoming an integral part of the UK’s world-leading life sciences ecosystem, working in partnership with the government, academia and the NHS to explore the full potential of our mRNA platform and co-develop solutions to help transform UK healthcare.”

In addition to news about the facility, Moderna has also highlighted the important role it plays in clinical trials in the UK; to date, more than 12,700 people have participated in a Moderna-led clinical trial. The biopharma giant states that it has launched 23 clinical trials since 2021, which involved 110 clinical trial sites across the UK. Internal Moderna data and data from the Office for Life Sciences states that one in five participants in industrysponsored clinical research from 2023-2024 were enrolled in a Moderna trial, resulting in Moderna being the largest industry sponsor of clinical trials in the UK.

"At Moderna, we are immensely proud of our new manufacturing facility and clinical laboratories in Oxfordshire, and the significant and ongoing investment into R&D across the UK. By investing heavily across clinical trials and research, we aim to drive breakthroughs that could improve patient outcomes, support the UK healthcare ecosystem and ultimately shape the future of medicine," said Stephen Hoge, managing director and president of Moderna.