Moderna in Pact Wth Rovi to Supply Virus Vaccine Outside U.S.

Moderna Inc. joined with Laboratorios Farmaceuticos Rovi SA to help supply its Covid-19 shot, one of the leading vaccine candidates against the disease, as companies prepare to produce any successful inoculation as soon as possible.

The Spanish pharmaceutical company will provide vial filling and packaging capacity to Moderna, according to a statement Thursday, as Moderna prepares to produce hundreds of millions of doses of the vaccine for markets outside the U.S. starting in early 2021. The American biotech firm also entered into a pact with Catalent Inc. last month to help support the production of an initial 100 million doses of the vaccine candidate for the U.S.

Moderna completed enrollment for both cohorts of the phase 2 study of its vaccine candidate this week and is preparing to start the final phase with 30,000 participants this month. The company said in March a shot could be available for emergency use later this year.

Financial details of the arrangement with Rovi were not disclosed.

Shots from the University of Oxford, working with AstraZeneca Plc, and China’s CanSino Biologics Inc. are among the other potential vaccines currently in human trials.

July 9, 2020

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