{"id":164013,"date":"2025-09-27T15:11:21","date_gmt":"2025-09-27T15:11:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/164013\/"},"modified":"2025-09-27T15:11:21","modified_gmt":"2025-09-27T15:11:21","slug":"moderna-opens-new-vaccine-factory-at-harwell-campus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/164013\/","title":{"rendered":"Moderna opens new vaccine factory at Harwell Campus"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n The company said the Moderna Innovation and Technology Centre (MITC) at the Harwell Science and Innovation Campus, near Chilton, is the UK\u2019s first facility to manufacture mRNA jabs onshore.\n<\/p>\n

\n The facility can make up to 100 million doses per year, rising to 250 million in a pandemic, and will create around 150 highly skilled jobs, the Government said.\n<\/p>\n

\n It comes amid a challenging backdrop for investment for the sector.\n<\/p>\n

\n READ MORE: Police step up patrols after reports of burglaries in the early hours<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

\n Last week, UK pharmaceutical giant GSK revealed plans to put nearly \u00a322 billion into US research and development and manufacturing over the next five years.\n<\/p>\n

\n It came after US-based drugmaker Merck said its UK operation will scrap plans for a \u00a31 billion site in London\u2019s Kings Cross, which had been due to open in 2027.\n<\/p>\n

\n Bosses blamed the Government for paying too little for medicines and not investing enough in the sector, as it confirmed the move, which will impact around 125 jobs.\n<\/p>\n

\n Days later, AstraZeneca announced it had paused plans to invest \u00a3200 million at a Cambridge research site.\n<\/p>\n

\n Industry bosses recently told MPs that a \u201cdifficult\u201d environment and pressure on pricing had made the UK a less attractive investment environment than other countries such as the US.\n<\/p>\n

\n Health Secretary Wes Streeting said the \u201cnew cutting-edge facility\u201d in Oxfordshire marks the \u201cnext pivotal moment in boosting our nation\u2019s health, innovation and economy\u201d.\n<\/p>\n

\n He went on: \u201cThe Government is investing billions into this vital sector, and partnering the might of Moderna with the brilliance of our NHS will enable us to benefit from innovative vaccine technology as we shift healthcare from treatment to prevention.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n Darius Hughes, UK general manager of Moderna, said the site strengthens the country\u2019s \u201cpandemic preparedness\u201d.\n<\/p>\n

\n Stephane Bancel, chief executive of the firm, added: \u201cThis latest milestone underscores the UK\u2019s commitment to improving health security, both against global health emergencies and ongoing seasonal respiratory threats.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n Moderna is investing more than \u00a31 billion in UK research and development as part of 10-year strategic partnership with Government.\n<\/p>\n

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\n It comes after Moderna welcomed the Chancellor’s announcements regarding major infrastructure schemes impacting Oxfordshire.\n<\/p>\n

\n Rachel Reeves announced funding for the Abingdon Reservoir and promoted the Oxford to Cambridge ‘growth corridor’ link during a speech at Siemens Healthineers in Eynsham on January 29.\n<\/p>\n

\n She also announced funding for transport links including East-West Rail.\n<\/p>\n

\n The government wants to make this area “Europe’s Silicon Valley,” the part of California that is home to tech giants including Apple, Amazon, Google and Facebook.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The company said the Moderna Innovation and Technology Centre (MITC) at the Harwell Science and Innovation Campus, near…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":164014,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[102,2960,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-164013","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthcare","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-healthcare","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164013","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=164013"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164013\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/164014"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=164013"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=164013"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=164013"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}