Moderna's Seattle location will act as an AI and technology hub for the enterprise, while San Fransisco will serve as a home for Moderna Genomics.
The new West Coast presence joins existing US locations in Cambridge, Massachusetts; Norwood, Massachusetts; Atlanta, Georgia; Bethesda, Maryland; and Princeton, New Jersey.
Moderna has chosen Seattle for its technology solutions hub because of the region's existing tech talent. The office will also further scale the implementation of artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud-based tools across the platform. The company is currently hiring Technical Program Managers, Product Managers and Software Development Engineers.
"Our team has continued to push beyond what we ever imagined possible to completely reimagine how medicines are created and delivered," said Tracey Franklin, Chief Human Resources Officer of Moderna, as the mRNA pioneer announced its plans on Friday (March 10).
"We are making significant investments in both people and infrastructure to build the most impactful version of Moderna."
The expansion comes as Moderna celebrates promising developments for two lead candidates. mRNA-4157, a personalized cancer vaccine being developed in collaboration with Merck, recently announced Phase 2 data for the vaccine in combination with anti-PD-1 therapy Keytruda. Meanwhile, its RSV vaccine is set to file for approval in the US in the coming months, with hopes for a commercial launch at the end of this year or the beginning of 2024.
Meanwhile, the company has 48 mRNA programs in development, of which 38 are in active clinical trials.