Last week, mRNA king Moderna revealed plans to build a UK research, development, and manufacturing facility.

Moderna said the facility should be up and running by 2025, with construction set to begin in early 2023. Once operational, the Moderna Innovation and Technology Centre (MITC) will provide the UK with access to domestically manufactured mRNA vaccines as well as pandemic response capabilities, supporting the government’s efforts to reduce the impact of future pandemics with its “100 Days Mission” plan.

The site comes as a result of a ten-year partnership between Moderna and the UK government announced in June of 2022. Recently, the UK’s medicines regulator granted Moderna conditional authorization for the use of its Omicron-containing bivalent COVID-19 booster vaccine, marking the first global approval for an Omicron-targeted shot.