Moderna is in talks with the UK over an investment deal, the Financial Times reports.
It adds that ministers in the UK have said that despite its leaving the European Union, the UK would remain at the forefront of the life sciences and that a deal with Moderna could be an important part of that plan. "The UK is ideally placed to become a life sciences superpower, and collaboration with world leading companies is crucial to this," health secretary Sajid Javid tweeted last week after meeting Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel.
According to the FT, Moderna is looking into sites in London, Cambridge, and Oxford and is interested in collaborating with the National Health Service on clinical trials. In particular, it says the company would help the UK with its preparedness for future pandemics by building a manufacturing facility that could address them.
The FT notes that prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Moderna had no approved medicines, but it has since scaled up production by working with contractors and also has deals to produce its mRNA vaccines in Canada and Australia and has plans to open a vaccine manufacturing plant in Africa.