Biotechnology and pharmaceutical giant Moderna Inc. seeks to bring in advanced vaccine sciences to the Philippines to counter, if not prevent diseases associated with tropical countries in partnership with the government.
Moderna senior vice president and general manager Patrick Bergstedt said in a news briefing Wednesday the company also aimed to bring in bivalent COVID-19 vaccines to stem the surge of infections in the Philippines.
“Moderna has various vaccines in various developments including the RCV [respiratory syncytial virus]. That could be vaccine 2. The area we are very interested in and very excited about is the potential to develop combination vaccine that could provide broad protection across a number of respiratory diseases, and another vaccine that will prevent birth defects,” he said.
Bergstedt said Moderna was also looking at developing vaccines to address tropical diseases like dengue.
The biotech firm is actively seeking regulatory approval for the use of bivalent COVID-19 vaccine for the Philippine population.
Bergstedt is in the Philippines , together with Moderna Enterprise Solution head in Poland Łukasz Wielochowski, for a couple of days to finalize a proposal to build the Moderna Enterprise Solutions Hub Philippines, its third in the world after those in Warsaw, Poland and Atlanta in the US.
Wielochowski said Moderna was engaging all parties interested to team up with the company for the Philippine hub, but the investments were still being finalized pending the selection of local partners.
Both executives underscored the rigid process of choosing the country of choice to house the third enterprise solutions hub, before agreeing on the Philippines as the next hub.
“We went through a robust process of looking at various countries in the region that provide shared services or call centers and outsourcing capabilities. We are here for the long-term commitment, and we hope to build upon that for the future,” Bergstedt said.
He said the Philippines’ growing population is a sizable market for their vaccine products and serves as a huge pool of talent from the medical profession who are capable of sustaining Moderna’s presence across the Asia Pacific.
The first phase of Moderna’s operations in the Philippines will involve the establishment of the Enterprise Solutions Hub that will open 40 to 50 new positions. The hub will be staffed by Filipinos and run by Filipinos.
Moderna expects the new facility to be up and running by September 2023. The company is also setting up a commercial office that will work very closely with the government to ensure that the biotech firm is providing access to much-needed vaccines.