[ZURICH] Swiss contract drug manufacturer Lonza said on Wednesday that a new production line in the Netherlands will produce ingredients for Moderna's Covid-19 vaccine, part of the US drugmaker's plan to significantly lift output.

The line in Geleen will have the capacity to make ingredients for up to 300 million doses annually at 50 micrograms per dose, Lonza said.

That is half the 100-microgram dose that Moderna has been delivering to date. Moderna and scientists at the National Institutes of Health have been trying to determine whether doses of the company's Covid-19 vaccine can be halved to double the supply of the shots.

"We're assuming that as of 2022, we are going to have a mix of dose levels on the market," a spokesperson for Moderna said.

The US drugmaker aims to deliver up to three billion doses in 2022, up from an estimated 900 million doses this year. Lower dose vaccines could potentially be given as booster shots to combat coronavirus variants as well as shots to children who may not require a full dose.

Lonza currently has three production lines in Visp, Switzerland, where it is in the process of ramping up annual capacity to 300 million doses at 100 micrograms per dose. In April, it announced plans to double Visp production to 600 million doses in 2022.

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It also produces vaccine ingredients for Moderna in the United States. Other companies including Spain's Rovi and Sweden's Recipharm also have a role in producing Moderna's mRNA vaccine.

REUTERS