PHL, Moderna ink deal for 13M vaccine doses
We remain committed to making our vaccine available on every continent to help end this global pandemic. Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel
THE Philippines has inked an agreement with Moderna Inc., to supply the Philippines with 13 million doses of the American pharmaceutical and biotechnology firm’s Covid-19 vaccine, according to the information given by the Philippine Embassy in Washington, D.C.
Under the terms of this agreement, deliveries would begin in mid2021, the Massachusetts-headquartered company said.
And although the Covid-19 vaccine by Moderna is not currently approved for use in the Philippines, the company said it will work with regulators to pursue necessary approvals prior to distribution.
A separate agreement with the Philippine government and the private sector for the supply of an additional seven million doses is also anticipated, the information from the Philippine Embassy in Washington, D.C. said.
Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel was quoted as saying he thanks the Philippine government and the private sector “for their collaboration to bring the Covid-19 vaccine Moderna to the Philippines.”
“We remain committed to making our vaccine available on every continent to help end this global pandemic.”
The Covid-19 Vaccine Moderna has been granted temporary approval by Swissmedic, the Swiss Agency for Therapeutic Products, based upon the recommendation of the Human Medicines Expert Committee (HMEC), which authorizes the Covid-19 Vaccine Moderna for active immunization to prevent Covid-19 caused by SARS-COV-2 virus in individuals 18 years of age and older.
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.
The Covid-19 Vaccine Moderna was co-developed by Moderna and investigators from the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Vaccine Research Center.
On May 12, the US Food and Drug Administration granted the vaccine “fast track designation.”
On July 28, results from a nonhuman primate preclinical viral challenge study evaluating the vaccine were published in The New England Journal of Medicine.
On November 30, Moderna announced the primary efficacy analysis of the Phase 3 study of the vaccine conducted on 196 cases. On December 3, a letter to the editor was published in The New England Journal of Medicine reporting that participants in the Phase 1 study of the Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine retained high levels of neutralizing antibodies through 119 days following first vaccination (90 days following second vaccination).