Lonza confident of 2020 target for Moderna COVID-19 vaccine supply

Lonza is confident that U.S. and Swiss plants it is building to help make Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine candidate will be ready for commercial production this year, executives at the Swiss company said on Tuesday. New production lines at Lonza's site in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, aim to start making vaccine ingredients in November, while three lines in Visp, deep in a valley in the Swiss Alps - to supply 300 million vaccine doses annually - should begin delivering by December. There is no approved COVID-19 vaccine yet, but several are in advanced trials, including from Pfizer Inc, Johnson & Johnson and Moderna, whose candidate relies on technology never previously approved that enlists human cells to help trigger an immune response.