Moderna Announces Memorandum of Understanding with the Government of the Republic of Kenya to Establish its First mRNA Manufacturing Facility in Africa

Facility to manufacture drug substance with opportunity for fill/finish and packaging capabilities

Moderna investing up to $500 million to produce up to 500 million doses each year for the African continent

Moderna will invest in building mRNA capabilities in Africa

CAMBRIDGE, MA / ACCESSWIRE / March 7, 2022 / Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA), a biotechnology company pioneering messenger RNA (mRNA) therapeutics and vaccines, today announced that with the assistance of the U.S. Government, it has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with the Government of the Republic of Kenya to establish Kenya as the location for the Company's mRNA manufacturing facility.

Moderna is building this state-of-the-art mRNA facility in Africa with the goal of producing up to 500 million doses of vaccines each year. The Company anticipates investing up to $500 million in this new facility which will focus on drug substance manufacturing on the continent of Africa for the continent of Africa, and could also be expanded to include fill/finish and packaging capabilities at the site. In parallel, Moderna is also working on plans to allow it to fill doses of its COVID-19 vaccine in Africa as early as 2023, subject to demand.

"Battling the COVID-19 pandemic over the last two years has provided a reminder of the work that must be done to ensure global health equity. Moderna is committed to being a part of the solution and today, we announce another step in this journey - an investment in the Republic of Kenya to build a drug substance mRNA manufacturing facility capable of supplying up to 500 million doses for the African continent each year," said Stéphane Bancel, Chief Executive Officer of Moderna. "With our mRNA global public health vaccine program, including our vaccine programs against HIV and Nipah, and with this partnership with the Republic of Kenya, the African Union and the U.S. Government, we believe that this step will become one of many on a journey to ensure sustainable access to transformative mRNA innovation on the African continent and positively impact public health."

"Partnerships are key to our goal of deploying vaccines whenever and wherever they are needed," said Noubar Afeyan, Moderna's co-Founder and Chairman. "We would like to thank the Government of the Republic of Kenya for their support in bringing our mRNA manufacturing facility to Kenya, and thank the U.S. Government for assisting us in this process. We take seriously our critical role in combatting the COVID-19 pandemic and are determined to expand our global impact with our first manufacturing facility on the continent of Africa."

"We are pleased to partner with Moderna in the establishment of this mRNA manufacturing facility to help prepare the country and our sister states on the continent through the African Union to respond to future health crises and stave off the next pandemic," said His Excellency Uhuru Kenyatta, President of the Republic of Kenya. "This partnership is a testament to the capabilities of our community and our commitment to technological innovation. Moderna's investment in Kenya will help advance equitable global vaccine access and is emblematic of the structural developments that will enable Africa to become an engine of sustainable global growth."

"Kenya recognizes and appreciates the collaboration of Moderna in building our local manufacturing capacity. This will ensure as a country and region we can quickly respond to health demands requiring vaccine commodities," said Sen. Mutahi Kagwe, Cabinet Secretary for Health of the Republic of Kenya.

"Ending COVID-19 is a top priority of the Biden Administration and this can be achieved with increased global cooperation and investment. The agreement announced today between Moderna and the Government of Kenya to build a vaccine production facility in Kenya will not only contribute to ending this pandemic, but to long-term advancements in research and development on the African continent to combat future ones," said Jose W. Fernandez, U.S. Under Secretary for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment.

In its prophylactic vaccines modality, Moderna's mRNA pipeline includes 28 vaccine programs including vaccines against respiratory viruses, vaccines against latent viruses and vaccines against threats to global public health.

About Moderna

In over 10 years since its inception, Moderna has transformed from a 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 seven modalities, a broad intellectual property portfolio in areas including mRNA and lipid nanoparticle formulation, and an integrated manufacturing plant that allows for rapid clinical and commercial production at scale. 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 and approval 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 auto-immune 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 plans to build an mRNA manufacturing facility in Kenya; the capacity for that facility and the potential for conducting fill/finish services; the timing for construction; and the Company's public health and prophylactic vaccines programs and the potential success of those programs. 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.

Moderna Contacts:

Media:
Colleen Hussey
Director, Corporate Communications
617-335-1374
Colleen.Hussey@modernatx.com

Investors:
Lavina Talukdar
Senior Vice President & Head of Investor Relations
617-209-5834
Lavina.Talukdar@modernatx.com

SOURCE: Moderna, Inc.