Moderna May Supply Up to 160 Million COVID-19 Vaccine Doses to EU

Moderna announced that it has concluded exploratory talks with the European Commission for a deal to supply up to 160 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine.

The commission is expected to purchase 80 million doses of the company’s mRNA-1273 vaccine candidate on behalf of the EU’s 27 members states, with an option to purchase 80 million additional doses. Swiss manufacturer Lonza and Spain-based ROVI will manufacture the vaccine for Europe.

Phase 3 testing of the Moderna vaccine candidate began in July and the company said it is on track to complete enrollment of 30,000 patients in September.

Moderna is the fifth drugmaker with which the EU has concluded exploratory talks  as part of its effort to line up supplies of COVID-19 vaccines. It most recently announced discussions with the German vaccine developer CureVac to purchase 225 million doses of that company’s mRNA-based vaccine (DID, Aug. 21).

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the commission is continuing talks with other drugmakers to ensure that vaccines are “rapidly available.” — Jordan Williams