Moderna said Thursday that it is pausing its plans to build an mRNA vaccine manufacturing facility in Kenya as demand for mRNA vaccines lags in Africa. The Massachusetts-based vaccine maker says the continent’s uptake of COVID-19 vaccines is no longer sufficient enough to support the project.
“Since 2022, Moderna has not received any vaccine orders for Africa and has faced the cancellation of previous orders, resulting in more than $1 billion in losses and write-downs,” Shannon Thyme, Moderna’s chief legal officer, said in an emailed statement to Quartz. “Given the lack of demand, we must reassess the most effective way to ensure equitable access in the short term to our COVID-19 and late-stage respiratory pipeline products in Africa.”
The company announced in March 2022 that it was planning to invest $500 million in the facility, which would be able to produce up to 500 million doses of mRNA vaccines each year.
“Despite these challenges, Moderna is committed to ensuring equitable access and meeting emerging demands from African nations for its COVID-19 vaccine through its global manufacturing network,” Modern said in a statement Thursday. It added that it is working on developing vaccines for diseases that predominantly affect people in Africa, including HIV and malaria, and that these experimental vaccines are still in early stages of development.
💉 Moderna is trying to pivot from its COVID-19 vax
The move is aligned with the company’s broader efforts to reduce costs associated with its COVID-19 vaccine production. Moderna managed turn its first profit in three quarters during the three months ending Dec. 31, in part due it scaling down production of the vaccine.
“2023 was a year of transition for Moderna as we adapted to the endemic market,” Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel said in a statement in February. In the United States, only 14% of adults have received an updated 2023-2024 COVID-19 vaccine, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Moderna forecasts that its respiratory franchise, which includes its COVID-19 vaccine and an upcoming RSV vaccine, will generate $4 billion in revenue this year. Moderna said it expects to receive FDA approval for its RSV vaccine in the first half of 2024. The company is also developing a combined covid and flu vaccine.
Moderna has a total of 45 products in development. In February, the copmany said it plans to invest $4.5 billion in the research and development of these new vaccines.