CordenPharma signs deal to work on COVID vaccine

BOULDER — CordenPharma Boulder Inc., a contract-development and manufacturing organization, has extended an agreement with Moderna Inc. (Nasdaq: MRNA) to produce lipid excipients to be used in the development of a vaccine for COVID-19.

Lipid excipients are mechanisms used to release a drug. The material surrounds the drug and enables it to get into the human cell.

Moderna is a clinical-stage biotechnology company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that is working to develop messenger RNA therapies and vaccines, including vaccine candidate mRNA-1273, which will be used against the novel coronavirus. Its candidate is in phase two clinical trials and is a leading vaccine to be used to combat COVID.

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The agreement with Moderna, an extension of an existing manufacturing agreement, permits rapid development of the material that Moderna needs to bring a vaccine to market.

“We’re one of the few that can do this complex technology and do it quickly,” Brian McCudden, president of Corden in Boulder, told BizWest.

Under terms of the agreement, the companies will further extend their supply relationship by expanding the manufacturing agreement originally signed in 2016 between Moderna and CordenPharma Switzerland. The amended agreement now includes CordenPharma Chenôve in France and CordenPharma Colorado. 

CordenPharma Colorado operates two locations in Boulder that together employ about 350 people. “We’ve certainly been expanding our employee base in Boulder, but at this point we’re unsure of the number we’ll have. We do have to commit a lot of resources to this,” McCudden said.

While parallel efforts are underway around the world to find an effective vaccine, Moderna’s program is part of the U.S. campaign that includes numerous companies but ultimately will be narrowed to a few. Those few will produce large quantities of potential vaccine therapies so that when decisions are made about which vaccine or vaccines to use, supplies will be ready.

“We’re assuming the vaccine will work so when data [about its effectiveness] is available, there will be supply,” McCudden said.

CordenPharma Boulder, as a contract manufacturer, works with numerous pharmaceutical companies, often under nondisclosure agreements. McCudden said recent work has been in multiple disciplines including cancer and diabetes drug development.

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