Tabuk Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Business, a renowned Saudi pharmaceutical firm, has entered into a deal with Moderna Inc, a biotechnology company located in the US, to sell the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine and future variant-specific booster candidates in Saudi Arabia.

The US Corporation revealed the partnership in a tweet on Friday, writing, “This morning we declared a deal with @TabukPharma to sell the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine and upcoming variant-specific booster candidates in Saudi Arabia.”

Tabuk Pharmaceuticals, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Astra Industrial Group, intend to hold the marketing authorization for the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine in Saudi Arabia under the conditions of this deal. Aside from the Moderna COVID-19 vaccination and Moderna's updated variant booster candidates, the deal allows Tabuk to negotiate the potential to commercialize other Moderna mRNA products if they become available in the future.

Stéphane Bancel, chief executive officer of Moderna, commented on the arrangement, saying, “We welcome Tabuk Pharmaceuticals' involvement in this new collaboration in Saudi Arabia.” We can increase the accessibility of our vaccination internationally owing to collaborations like this, and we anticipate that this will boost the availability of our COVID-19 vaccine for the betterment of the public of Saudi Arabia.”

“We are delighted to have signed a new deal to provide our COVID-19 vaccine and, if approved, our upgraded variant booster vaccine candidate to Saudi Arabia in 2021 and 2022.”

“We are excited about the chance to collaborate with Tabuk Pharmaceuticals to offer Moderna COVID-19 and maybe additional Moderna mRNA therapies to Saudi Arabia in the future,” said Corinne Le Goff, Moderna's chief commercial officer. “With our collaborators, we are dedicated to bringing our vaccine to more people throughout the world.”

“As part of our involvement and mission in Tabuk to distribute exceptional healthcare solutions and save lives for the people of Saudi Arabia and the countries we work in, particularly during the current pandemic, our collaboration with Moderna emerges in with an obvious choice to even further support our mission in alignment with Saudi Vision 2030 concerning biotechnology in association with a prestigious and renowned firm.

“At Tabuk, we are pleased to be collaborating with Moderna to sell essential vaccines to Saudi Arabia, which adds to our plan to develop our specialty and innovative business and supports our region-leading status. Our goal is to be Moderna's preferred partner in the area, and we are considering more strategic partnerships, involving local production in Saudi Arabia,” said Wisam Alkhatib, Tabuk Pharmaceuticals' vice president of strategy and business development.