Moderna signs deal in Shanghai with view to developing mRNA medicines

Vaccine maker Moderna Inc said on Wednesday it had signed a memorandum of understanding and a land collaboration agreement to work towards opportunities for it to research, develop and manufacture mRNA medicines in China.

"Any medicines produced under this agreement will be exclusively for the Chinese people ... and will not be exported," a spokesperson told Reuters in an email in response to a query. He declined to comment on the size of the deal and did not immediately provide any other details.

The city government of China's financial hub Shanghai confirmed on Thursday the signing of strategic cooperation agreements with Moderna, after authorities including Shanghai's Communist Party Secretary Chen Jining met with the company's Chief Executive Officer Stephane Bancel on Wednesday.

Also Read | Moderna, Pfizer hit with new patent lawsuits over Covid vaccines
"We hope to speed up the implementation of Moderna's projects ... and promote more advanced technologies and innovative products to land in Shanghai," Chen said in the statement.

Chinese media outlet Yicai reported on Tuesday that Moderna was set to make its first investment in China that could be worth around $1 billion.

Moderna said in May it was looking for opportunities in China after registering a legal entity in the world's second-largest economy.

The company prior to this had no presence in mainland China. It opened an office in Hong Kong last year as part of an Asia expansion.

Its expansion into mainland China comes as its revenue growth slows sharply due to waning global demand for its COVID-19 vaccine, the U.S. company's only approved product.

Moderna in February forecast a possible net loss for 2023, calling it a transition year before it starts to see sales from experimental vaccines for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and flu.

Those vaccines, based on the same mRNA platform as its COVID shot, have yet to be filed for regulatory approval decisions.

Moderna has said that it was keen to sell its mRNA vaccine to China but the company and its foreign peers have so far been kept out as Beijing has insisted on using only Chinese-made COVID-19 vaccines for its population.