As the U.S. backpedals on its mRNA investment, Mexico is embracing the technology through a new manufacturing pact with Moderna to produce vaccines domestically.
Moderna is signing on to the Mexican government’s plan to foster a local mRNA ecosystem, with a five-year agreement that will supply the country with Moderna’s respiratory vaccine portfolio.
The deal comes in the form of a Memorandum of Understanding between Moderna, the Mexican government and its federally owned Laboratorios de Biológicos y Reactivos de México (BIRMEX), as well as private local pharma Laboratorios Liomont.
Under the agreement, Moderna will supply its respiratory vaccines as well as facilitate a technology transfer to Lioment to produce its COVID-19 vaccine Spikevax and otherwise set up a “reliable in-country supply” of respiratory vaccines, the company explained in a Tuesday press release.
Moderna is “proud to support Mexico in its mission to strengthen national health security,” CEO Stéphane Bancel said in the release.
"Through this agreement, we will be able to provide the Mexican people with access to our respiratory vaccines and critical pandemic response capacity,” the executive added. “This collaboration also reflects the growing demand for these vaccines in Mexico, and we are excited about the opportunity to support public health needs while driving sales growth through geographic diversification."
Along with its vaccine supply contributions, Moderna and the Mexican government will also join forces to work on local clinical research and development programs based on Mexico’s specific health priorities and together work to bolster the country’s pandemic preparedness framework.
Moderna’s updated 2025-2026 version of its Spikevax was recently approved by Mexico’s health regulator, the Federal Commission for the Protection against Sanitary Risk (COFEPRIS) and the country committed to a purchase adjudication of up to 10 million doses of the vaccine, according to the release notes.
The move is in line with the Mexican government's “Plan Mexico,” a wide-spanning effort that looks to strengthen health security and see Mexico as a biopharma production hub.
Several global pharmas have since joined the effort, including Boehringer Ingelheim with a $188 million investment to upgrade its Xochimilco-based plant and AstraZeneca’s $30 million expansion of its Global Innovation and Technology Center (GITC) in Guadalajara, which reflects the company’s belief in “Mexico’s potential as a global hub for innovation and technology,” it said in a March LinkedIn post.
Last summer, Bayer also made moves in Mexico with a plan to invest 3 billion pesos ($174.13 million) in the country over five years, with a focus on expanding, modernizing and refurbishing the production sites it operates there. The German drugmaker followed up on the announcement with a pledge to pump 800 million Mexican pesos ($43 million) into its manufacturing spot in Veracruz, which houses an active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) plant and a pharmaceutical site that makes ampoules, prefilled syringes, suppositories and tablets.
Moderna’s efforts abroad, meanwhile, come as the U.S. pulls away from the mRNA technology that the company is rooted in. The company last month divulged that it does “not foresee investing in new phase 3 studies in a foreseeable futures [sic] in vaccines,” Bancel told Bloomberg TV, confirming that the U.S.’ shifting vaccine climate will “100%” affect the company’s business and ability to develop more vaccines.
Mistrust in vaccines has grown in the U.S. since long-time vaccine skeptic RFK. Jr. stepped into office as the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), facilitating a stop to federally-funded mRNA vaccine work and the overhaul of long-standing vaccine recommendations.
“It is sad for us to see that. Vaccines that have been proven for decades helping people around the world are not recommended anymore,” Bancel told Bloomberg TV.