The new site will give the company the capacity to develop preclinical toxicology study materials, and continue clinical development programs that are in Phase 1 and 2. This will allow for Moderna to fulfill operations for its mRNA development pipeline.
This pipeline currently has 21 on-going programs for potential treatments of cancer, rare and infectious diseases, and heart failure.
Stephane Bancel, CEO of Moderna, told us, “The Norwood site is core to our long-term strategy, enabling us to leverage the potential of our mRNA platform, control our supply chain, and provide the necessary scale and flexibility to support the development of high-quality mRNA medicines for patients in decades ahead.”
The site will also include a Personalized Cancer Vaccine (PCV) Unit that will enable Moderna to supply mRNA for potential PCVs. Through this PCV unit, Moderna will reduce manufacturing time for cancer vaccines designed for individual patients participating in clinical trials.
Juan Andres, senior vice president of manufacturing for Moderna, said in a press release, “Our investment in Norwood brings us even closer to the industrialization of our mRNA platform. Norwood will allow us to own the end-to-end production of materials, run multiple programs simultaneously, and produce more than 100 cGMP batches annually in an automated and digitally-integrated environment.”
Norwood site will be a digitally-enabled site using robotics to enable data and information for manufacturing activities, it will also be a paperless manufacturing
“Opening this new manufacturing facility in Massachusetts was also important as it enables close collaboration with our development and research teams in Cambridge as we advance our mRNA platform and science,” said Bancel.