A nurse prepares a dose of the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine at the Ortepesi Pharmacy in Kajiado, Kenya, on September 9.
Patrick Meinhart | AFP | Getty Images
modern Thursday said it had suspended plan Establish a vaccine production The company has set up a production base in Kenya after demand for its coronavirus vaccine plummeted.
The biotech said it has not received any vaccine orders for Africa since 2022 and has taken more than $1 billion in losses and writedowns from cancellations of previous orders on the continent.
Moderna’s decision is consistent with its broader efforts to cut costs by right-scaling its COVID-19 vaccine production. The company’s business took a major hit last year as global demand for vaccines fell and people relied less on protective vaccines and treatments to ward off the virus.
Moderna’s shares fell 45% last year, but are up about 6% this year.
In March 2022, the company said it would invest approx. US$500 million Kenyan factories supply up to 500 million doses of messenger RNA vaccines to Africa each year. Moderna also plans to start filling the continent with doses of its coronavirus vaccine as early as 2023.
But the company later determined that demand in Africa was “insufficient to support the viability” of the planned plant in Kenya, Moderna said in a statement on Thursday. Nonetheless, the company said it was committed to “ensuring equitable access and meeting the emerging needs of African countries” through its global manufacturing network.
The company said it is also working on developing vaccines against diseases that mainly affect the African continent, such as HIV and malaria. The vaccines are part of Moderna’s broader effort to expand access to vaccines in many parts of the world that are otherwise unavailable.
But the company noted that these vaccines are still in the early stages of development.
“Given this, and consistent with our strategic planning, Moderna believes it is prudent to pause efforts to build an mRNA manufacturing facility in Kenya,” the company said in a statement. “This approach will allow Moderna to better position its foundation Investments in facilities align with Africa’s changing healthcare needs and vaccine needs.”
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