Moderna-NIH Agreement on Publicly-Funded Discovery Will Be Dwarfed by Moderna’s Unconscionable Price Spike

WASHINGTON – Moderna reported that it has reached a $400 million agreement with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for the rights to use publicly-funded technology that was key to the success of the NIH-Moderna COVID vaccine. Public Citizen was the first to reveal that Moderna and others had used a publicly-funded, NIH-engineered solution to freeze spike proteins to keep their shape, which was a crucial step for producing a stronger immune response in the COVID vaccines. Columbia Law School clinical professor Christopher Morten subsequently demonstrated Modernaโ€™s infringement of the patent.

Public Citizen, PrEP4All, and other advocacy groupsย called onย the U.S. government to ensure accessible pricing and equitable global access in its license negotiations. Next month, Moderna CEO Stephane Bancelย will appearย before the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions, chaired by U.S. Senatorย Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), to discuss Modernaโ€™s proposed price hike on the vaccine. Peter Maybarduk, director of the Access to Medicines program at Public Citizen, released the following statement:

โ€œThis remedy for Modernaโ€™s use of publicly-owned technology key to its success is not remotely sufficient.

โ€œModernaโ€™s catch-up payment to NIH amounts to little more than 1% of its $36 billion in global sales. That modest return to taxpayers will be dwarfed, probably many times over, by Modernaโ€™s harmful and grotesque proposed 400% price spike.

โ€œConsidering Modernaโ€™s soup-to-nuts reliance on U.S. government support, the public deserves a much better deal, including vaccines made available free or at cost today.

โ€œThe government should have insisted on affordability from the start, and should insist on essentially free vaccines today. There would be no NIH-Moderna vaccine without the NIH.

โ€œFortunately, Moderna will be held to account on March 22, when CEO Stephane Bancel will appear before the Senate and the people at Chairman Bernie Sandersโ€™ hearing on Modernaโ€™s outrageous vaccine price spike.โ€

About Public Citizen

Public Citizen is a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization that champions the public interest in the halls of power. We defend democracy, resist corporate power and work to ensure that government works for the people – not for big corporations. Founded in 1971, we now have 500,000 members and supporters throughout the country.

Originally Published on February 24, 2022

Read Original Press Release on Citizen.org

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