A Moderna scientist at work.
American pharmaceutical Moderna will build a Covid-19 vaccine manufacturing plant in Kenya.
The Sh60 billion plant will have the capacity to manufacture 500 million vaccines in a year.
A statement seen by The Standard says the multi-billion investment is a strong statement of America's confidence in Kenya's investment environment and trust in the Kenyan people.
The statement said the vaccines will be supplied to the global South or the developing world.
The factory which will focus on drug substance manufacturing could also be expanded to include fill/finish and packaging capabilities at the site.
This comes as the company works round the clock to see doses of its Covid-19 vaccine allowed in Africa as early as 2023, subject to demand.
Moderna is a pharmaceutical and biotechnology company based in Cambridge Massachusetts that focuses on RNA therapeutics, primarily mRNA vaccines.
These vaccines use a copy of a molecule called messenger RNA (mRNA) to produce an immune response.
The firm is currently working to create mRNA medicines for a wide range of diseases and conditions.
These include potential new mRNA medicines for treating infectious diseases, cancer, rare diseases and cardiovascular disease.
In the statement, the company’s CEO Stephane Bancel said: "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 to ensure global health equity.".
Bancel added, "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 US 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."
President Uhuru Kenyatta in his response said the factory will play a key role in preparing Kenya and its sister states on the continent through the African Union to respond to future health crises and stave off the next pandemic.
"This partnership is a testament to the capabilities of our community and our commitment to technological innovation. Modena’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," said Uhuru.
Currently, the company's only commercial vaccine is the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine and as of 2022, the company has 44 treatment and vaccine candidates, of which 21 have entered clinical trials, according to the company's website.
According to the company, its targets for vaccines include influenza, HIV, respiratory syncytial virus, Epstein-Barr virus, the Nipah virus, Chikungunya, a combined single-shot Covid-19 booster and influenza vaccine, a cytomegalovirus vaccine and two cancer vaccines.
In the pipeline are also candidates for cancer immunotherapy using OX40 ligand, interleukin 23, IL36G and interleukin 12.
“We are proud of the advancements we’ve made in pioneering new vaccines and therapeutics that may have the potential to treat rare diseases like Methylmalonic Acidemia (MMA) and Propionic Acidemia (PA), and prevent diseases such as Cytomegalovirus (CMV), Zika and cancers,” the firm says on its website.
In 2021, Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine, Spikevax, was approved in 70 countries, with 807 million doses distributed worldwide so far.