Agreement also includes distribution of Moderna’s updated variant booster candidates
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. & ZUG, Switzerland – Moderna, Inc. (Nasdaq: MRNA), a biotechnology company pioneering messenger RNA (mRNA) therapeutics and vaccines, and Tabuk Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Company (a fully owned subsidiary of Astra Industrial Group), a leading Saudi pharmaceuticals company, today announced an agreement to commercialize the Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine and future variant-specific booster candidates in Saudi Arabia.
Under the terms of this agreement, Tabuk Pharmaceuticals will hold the marketing authorization for the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine in Saudi Arabia. Beyond the Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine and Moderna’s updated variant booster candidates, the agreement also gives Tabuk the possibility to discuss opportunities to distribute other Moderna mRNA products if authorized in the future.
“We appreciate the collaboration of Tabuk Pharmaceuticals in this new partnership in Saudi Arabia,” said Stéphane Bancel, Chief Executive Officer of Moderna. “It is thanks to partnerships such as these that we are able to expand access to our vaccine globally, and we hope it will support the availability of our COVID-19 vaccine for the benefit of the people of Saudi Arabia.”
“We welcome the opportunity to work with Tabuk Pharmaceuticals to bring the Moderna COVID-19 and potentially other Moderna mRNA products to Saudi Arabia in the future,” said Corinne Le Goff, Pharm.D., M.B.A., Chief Commercial Officer of Moderna. “Together with our partners, we remain committed to delivering our vaccine to more populations around the world. We are pleased to have secured a new agreement to supply our COVID-19 vaccine and our updated variant booster vaccine candidate, if authorized, to Saudi Arabia for 2021 and 2022.”
“As part of our role and mission in Tabuk to deliver unique health solutions and preserve lives for the people of Saudi Arabia and countries we operate in especially during the current pandemic, our partnership with Moderna comes in as an evident choice to further support our mission in line with Saudi vision 2030 regarding biotechnology in association with such a distinguished & renowned company as Moderna,” said Mohammed Alhagbani Astra Industrial Group President.
“We are proud and excited at Tabuk to be partnering with Moderna to commercialize crucial vaccines to Saudi Arabia building on our strategy to expand our specialty and innovative business and reinforces our leading position in the region. Our aspiration is to be the partner of choice to Moderna in the region and consider further strategic collaboration including local manufacturing in Saudi,” said Wisam Alkhatib Pharm.,M.B.A., Vice President of Strategy and Business Development of Tabuk Pharmaceuticals.
About Moderna
In 10 years since its inception, Moderna has transformed from a science 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 six modalities, a broad intellectual property portfolio in areas including mRNA and lipid nanoparticle formulation, and an integrated manufacturing plant that allows for both clinical and commercial production at scale and at unprecedented speed. 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 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. Today, 24 development programs are underway across these therapeutic areas, with 14 programs having entered the clinic. Moderna has been named a top biopharmaceutical employer by Science for the past six years. To learn more, visit www.modernatx.com.
About Tabuk
Established in Saudi Arabia in 1994, Tabuk Pharmaceuticals is a leading regional pharmaceutical in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Tabuk Pharmaceuticals develops, manufactures, markets and distributes oral and injectable pharmaceutical products. The company also contract manufactures high-quality pharmaceutical products for third party multinational pharmaceutical companies and has several established alliances that have helped launch some innovative medications in the region. Tabuk Pharmaceuticals is a major player in the industry in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the MENA region focusing and currently expanding into specialty therapy areas and technologies. With more than 2,400 employees and four state-of-the-art plants in Saudi Arabia and the region, serving patients with unmet needs across 17 countries in MENA.
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 development of a vaccine to protect against the SARS-CoV-2 virus (mRNA-1273, also referred to as COVID-19 Vaccine Moderna and the Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine); and the Company’s agreement with Tabuk Pharmaceuticals to distribute the Company’s products in Saudi Arabia. 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.