CAMBRIDGE, Mass. & FARGO, N.D.-- Moderna, Inc. (Nasdaq:MRNA), a biotechnology company pioneering messenger RNA (mRNA) therapeutics and vaccines, and Aldevron, LLC, the leading provider of high-quality plasmid DNA, mRNA and recombinant proteins necessary for vaccines, gene and cell therapy, gene editing and diagnostic applications, have announced their expanded collaboration in support of the Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine and additional programs in Moderna’s clinical development pipeline.
Specifically, Aldevron will supply plasmid DNA to serve as the genetic template for generating the COVID-19 mRNA vaccine and other investigational programs in Moderna’s pipeline.
“Aldevron has been a long-standing partner of Moderna. We appreciate their collaboration and their expertise in the biologics space,” said Juan Andres, Chief Technical Operations and Quality Officer of Moderna. “We look forward to our ongoing work with this expanded partnership.”
“Aldevron’s support of the Moderna pipeline spans nearly a decade, and we’re incredibly proud of the trust they’ve placed in us” commented Kevin Ballinger, Chief Executive Officer of Aldevron. “Our deep experience, coupled with enhanced operational efficiencies and recent capacity expansion place us in an excellent position to support Moderna’s efforts – especially during this critical time. We look forward to expanding our strategic partnership to serve a pipeline of important new programs in the future.”
Aldevron’s production of DNA continues to take place in its 70,000 sq ft GMP facility located in Fargo, North Dakota. Buildout and validation of an additional 189,000 sq ft expansion to the GMP facility on Aldevron’s 14-acre Breakthrough Campus has been completed, enabling additional manufacturing capacity.
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.
