The Director of Commercial Alliances for Latin America of Moderna, Román Saglio, and the CEO of Adium, Patricio Rodríguez, spoke with El Observador about the details of this agreement which aims to bring Moderna’s vaccines closer to the market of 640 million people in Latin America.
According to Saglio, This alliance is part of Moderna’s geographic expansion strategy and it is in line with the recent announcements of expansion of its commercial network in Asia Pacific and Europe.
The high vaccination rates and the good acceptance by governments and the population of the anti-covid-19 vaccines in the region make the Latin American market is extremely interesting for Moderna.
“Adium Pharma, leader in the region in alliances for highly complex pharmaceutical and biotechnological products, with a presence in 18 countries in the region, gives us all the local support and strength to be able to execute bilateral agreements at the highest level of capacity and excellence. and expand to territories where they have not arrived because they do not have a local presence, especially with a long-term vision”, reflected the director of Commercial Alliances.
Brazil and Mexico are the two destinations that lead the objectives of the American company. “In a region of 640 million inhabitants, 215 million are in Brazil and 130 in Mexico, Moderna has not had good penetration there, probably due to lack of local presence; we want to quickly reverse that,” the regional director of the biotechnology company told El Observador.
Moderna has a presence in 11 countries worldwide, but it has access to 56 countries because it reaches 45 of them through distributors.
“As the person in charge of the region, I am convinced that the best strategy is to ally with Adium because they have extensive experience in entering new businesses and accelerating business times,” said Saglio.
For his part, the CEO of Adium, Patricio Rodríguez, pointed out that the function of the Uruguayan laboratory in this agreement is “to be the local arm of Moderna in each of the 18 countries in which Adium Pharma has a presence”.
The CEO intends that the strengths of the company in the medical, commercial and regulatory areas of each country allow it to bring the Moderna vaccine to the largest number of people in Latin America.
“We have an obligation for this vaccine to arrive efficiently, quickly. Having a local arm helps Moderna to channel such a great asset that it has, which is the research, development and production of the vaccine,” Rodríguez emphasized.
Currently, Moderna has five bilateral contracts with countries in the region, these vaccines arrive directly from one of the five plants that Moderna has worldwide to the countries. According to company officials, This agreement does not imply that there is an intervention by Adium in the products arriving in Uruguay or that the country is a regional distribution center.for now.
“There are many other countries to which we do not have direct access, of the 18 in which Adium has a presence, we only have five, there are 13 more in which we are going to become stronger with them,” Saglio said.
Currently, there are many mechanisms for access to vaccines that, for the most part, are resolved through direct interaction between Moderna and governments. However, according to Saglio, In the future, a private market will open around covid-19 where the equation will be different and probably at that time Adium – which has five plants in the region and a hub in Uruguay – will play another role.. “There will come a way out of the pandemic through an endemic and the business will not be direct with governments, but commercial and Adium has all the know-how to do it”, projected the director of Moderna.
One foot in Uruguay
Making the vaccine in Uruguay or in the region is not a priority for Moderna. “This responds to Moderna’s objective of producing the largest number of doses, someone could say that to do that it is necessary to put plants in all countries, but the work of making a plant and getting it ready takes a long process, the best way to react quickly to manufacture more doses and supply the market is to expand the production capacity in those places where there is already manufacturing”, he detailed.
In the facts, the company’s regulatory strategy in Latin America is to register all Moderna plants in such a way that it has five plants around the world that can send production to the region, instead of having one in Uruguay that supplies it. “That is the strategy today, we do not have a plan to start manufacturing in any country in the region, but time will tell,” Saglio stressed.
On the other hand, Asked if there were talks with the Uruguayan government for Moderna to be included in the vaccination scheme, Saglio confirmed that there was a recent dialogue where the latest data was presented, which, in his view, was “well received” by the Executive Power. Among other things, it was specified to the Uruguayan government that Moderna has immediate supply. “We signed an agreement with Chile in January and this Wednesday the vaccines will arrive,” he said, adding: “If Uruguay or any country wants to contract tomorrow, it can be supplied.” However, he clarified: “We do not have any agreement nor are we negotiating any agreement with Uruguay.”
New Horizons
For more than 10 years, Moderna developed and refined messenger RNA technology. In 2021 he dedicated himself to expanding his productive capacity through alliances. “Moderna manufactured around 100,000 vaccines a year for clinical studies and last year 807 million vaccines were shipped worldwide”specified the director.
For Saglio, 2022 is a year of consolidation of what has been achieved and of commercial expansion “to ensure that our vaccine reaches the region”.
In this line he recalled that A specific vaccine for Ómicron is being developed and will be available for sale between July and August of this year; At the same time, the creation of a triple vaccine that combats covid-19, the flu and other respiratory diseases, focused mainly on the population at risk, is being investigated.
It should be remembered that Moderna is not just a vaccine or vaccine company, but the core of its business is in oncology, rare and autoimmune diseases, areas in which Adium has a very strong presence at the regional level.
According to the CEO of the Uruguayan laboratory, Adium’s business center is primary care, which are pharmacy products under medical prescription dedicated to cardiology, gynecology, traumatology, urology and pain. On the other hand, the Uruguayan company has another segment of highly complex oncology products. “In both segments the company reached a leadership position”he highlighted.
With its headquarters in Zonamérica, Adium Pharma has more than 300 employees in Uruguay and 5,700 in the region, and although its alliance with Moderna does not yet imply having to modify its infrastructure, it does plan to hire new personnel to face the challenges ahead together with American biotechnology.
