UPDATE 2-Moderna to cut mRNA drug substance production at Lonza facility

(Adds details on production and demand for COVID shots throughout)

Sept 19 (Reuters) - Moderna said on Tuesday it will cut production of mRNA drug substance for its COVID-19 vaccine at Lonza's facility in Switzerland this quarter as part of a plan to align manufacturing of the shots with lower post-pandemic demand.

The U.S. company had said last week it was in talks with its partners that fill vials and syringes globally to downsize vaccine production.

Such a move will help Moderna adjust to the sharp fall in demand for COVID vaccines as payers cut back orders for the shots, partly following the end of the public health emergency for the disease.

Contract drugmaker Lonza's facility in Visp, Switzerland, was dedicated to making vaccine ingredients and help boost the Moderna's deliveries to Europe, Canada and other nations outside the United States.

Moderna expects to absorb the demand currently supported by Lonza at its internal manufacturing site at Norwood in Massachusetts for 2024-25, the company said.

In 2025, Moderna expects additional capacity from its new mRNA manufacturing facilities in the UK, Canada and Australia when completed and also continues to maintain external drug substance capacity at Rovi in Spain.

Rovi, which has a 10-year deal with Moderna to manufacture mRNA-based therapies, had last week said it does not expect to cut down its vaccine production at least this year.

Moderna's other partners include Thermo Fisher, Sanofi and Catalent.

The production ramp down follows Moderna's prediction in August that U.S. demand for the shots would reach 50 to 100 million doses in the fall season, much lower than about 153.8 million shots administered in 2022.

Rival Pfizer pegs the demand in the U.S. to be even lower, at 24% of the U.S. population, or about 82 million people. (Reporting by Leroy Leo in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur)