The U.S.-based mRNA vaccine pioneer will set up a Canadian manufacturing and research site in the Montreal area, federal and provincial ministers are to announce Friday morning. Moderna and the federal government reached an agreement in principle right before last summer’s election call but ironing out the details has taken eight months. (The Logic)

Talking point: Moderna is working on mRNA-based vaccines and treatments for numerous ailments besides COVID-19 and promises to produce them in Canada, selling to the market here while keeping surge-production capacity to respond to future pandemics. Montreal newspapers La Presse and Le Journal de Montréal were first to report the news Wednesday afternoon, citing unnamed sources—including one in the province’s government who boasted that “Quebec beat Ontario!” The financial incentives from Montreal and Toronto were about equal, the Journal reported, but Quebec’s more advanced biosciences ecosystem put it over the top.