Moderna will supply 12 million doses of an Omicron-containing bivalent COVID-19 booster to the Government of Canada, the company announced.
The announcement follows the Canadian government entering into a supply deal with the company last year for the supply of its COVID-19 vaccine for 2022 and 2023 – mRNA-1274 – with the contract allowing access to new vaccine adaptations.
In line with this, it has been agreed that six million doses of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine will be converted to an Omicron-containing bivalent vaccine.
Moreover, the government will purchase an additional 4.5 million doses of the booster, and will also be moving forward the scheduled delivery of 1.5 million doses from 2023-2022.
Stéphane Bancel, Moderna’s chief executive officer, said: “We thank the Government of Canada for their trust in our mRNA technology and our next-generation bivalent COVID-19 vaccine platform.
“As we have seen throughout this pandemic, the Government of Canada continues to take important steps in preparing for the winter season and protecting its people against Omicron.”
The agreement is subject to regulatory approval of the Omicron-containing bivalent vaccine booster candidate by Health Canada, with doses scheduled for delivery in 2022.
In July 2022, Moderna announced that it was advancing two bivalent candidates for autumn based on different population health security strategies in different countries. mRNA-1273.222 contains the BA.4/5 Omicron strain and is being developed in accordance with recent recommendations from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), while mRNA-1273.214 contains the BA.1 Omicron strain.
Both bivalent candidates contain 25µg of the currently authorised booster (mRNA-1273) and 25µg of an Omicron subvariant.
Earlier this month, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) was the first to authorise mRNA-1273.214, with the decision based on data from a phase 2/3 trial, which showed a booster dose of mRNA-1273.214 increased neutralising geometric mean titres against Omicron approximately eight times above baseline levels.
The booster dose also demonstrated potent neutralising antibody responses against the Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5 when compared against the currently authorised booster – mRNA-1273 – regardless of age or prior infection status.
Moderna has completed regulatory submissions for mRNA-1273.214 in Australia, Canada and the EU and expects further authorisation decisions in the coming weeks, the company said.