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Major drug makers are getting into mRNA, the technology behind the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech Covid vaccines, in a big way.

Sanofi, one of the largest vaccine makers, announced Tuesday it will spend $3.2 billion to purchase Translate Bio, its partner in an effort to create an mRNA-based Covid-19 vaccine. That follows a June announcement that Sanofi would create an mRNA vaccines center of excellence, funded with almost $500 million annually, with the goal of creating six experimental vaccine candidates by 2025.

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“Translate Bio adds an mRNA technology platform and strong capabilities to our research, further advancing our ability to explore the promise of this technology to develop both best-in-class vaccines and therapeutics,” said Paul Hudson, Sanofi’s CEO, in a statement. Translate Bio’s CEO, Ronald Renaud, said the deal means his company’s technology “is now even better positioned to reach more people, faster.”

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