Massachusetts — Biotechnology firm Moderna, Inc. said that it is expanding its Moderna Technology Center (MTC) in Norwood, Massachusetts by more than doubling of space to transform the facility from a production and lab space to an industrial technology center.
This expansion includes increasing the Company's production and lab space from approximately 300,000 square feet to approximately 650,000 square feet through the renovation of existing space and acquisition of a 240,000 square foot building located on the same campus for expansion of its commercial and clinical activities, said Moderna in a statement.
“Our manufacturing facility has been core to our long-term strategy and has enabled us to provide the scale and flexibility to support the development of our mRNA medicines and vaccines including our COVID-19 vaccine,” said Stéphane Bancel, Chief Executive Officer of Moderna.
He added: “We believe that this investment and expansion at our technology center will allow us to continue to optimize our mRNA products as we explore new pharmaceutical delivery forms such as prefilled syringes and lyophilized products. As we grow, we are committed to minimizing our environmental footprint.”
The company said that this expansion will support a 50% increase in production of the Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine at Moderna's manufacturing site, which is expected to ramp up in late 2021 and early 2022.
Earlier, on April 29, Moderna announced the investment at its owned and partnered manufacturing facilities that it expects will increase 2022 global capacity to up to 3 billion doses of its COVID-19 vaccine, depending upon the mix between the authorized Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine at the 100 μg dose level and potentially lower doses of the Company's variant booster candidates and pediatric vaccines, if authorized. The Company also raised its 2021 manufacturing supply forecast to between 800 million to 1 billion doses.
The company emphasized that this expansion includes an increase in its technical development capacity and preclinical production capability with the goal of producing thousands of preclinical samples per month for research and development. The expanded facility will also help facilitate the Company's increased focus and investment in technical capabilities such as the expansion of shelf-life stability and new pharmaceutical delivery forms such as prefilled syringes and lyophilized products.
Moderna opened its manufacturing site in July 2018. The Moderna Technology Center manufacturing site was named the ISPE Facility of the Future in 2019. The company said that digital technology is integrated throughout the site—the entire research, development and production process incorporates advanced robotics, machine learning, artificial intelligence and creative design.
