Riyadh – Mubasher: Astra Industrial Group said its subsidiary Tabuk Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Company has signed a contract with Moderna to commercialise the latter’s COVID-19 vaccine and future variant-specific booster candidates in Saudi Arabia.

The three-year renewable contract aims to give Tabuk the possibility to discuss opportunities to distribute other Moderna mRNA products if authorised in the future, according to a bourse disclosure to Tadawul on Sunday.

Tabuk will hold the marketing authorisation for the COVID-19 vaccine and its variants during the term of the agreement. The deal also includes providing suitable handling of the products for distribution to wholesalers, hospitals, clinics, and others.

Regarding the financial impact of this deal, Astra Industrial said: “It is difficult to assess the financial impact of this agreement since it is related to the level of supply and sales to the market which is dependent successful registration of the products.”

Chief Commercial Officer of Moderna, Corinne Le Goff, said, in a separate press release: “We are pleased to have secured a new agreement to supply our COVID-19 vaccine and our updated variant booster vaccine candidate, if authorised, to Saudi Arabia for 2021 and 2022.”

Saudi Arabia has administrated more than 15.73 million vaccine jabs until press time, according to official data by the Ministry of Health.