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Photograph by JOSEPH PREZIOSO / AFP via Getty Images
The Modern biotechnology company,
which has received commitments of nearly $ 1 billion from the federal government to develop its Covid-19 vaccine, seeks to sell the vaccine for between $ 25 and $ 30 per dose, the Financial Times reported Tuesday night.
Moderna’s vaccine (ticker: MRNA) would be administered as a two-dose course, meaning that immunization would cost governments between $ 50 and $ 60 per person.
That price is well above the other known prices set by companies developing Covid-19 vaccines so far. Pfizer (PFE), which unlike Moderna did not take money from the government to develop its vaccine, is charging developed countries approximately $ 20 per dose, or $ 40 per course of treatment. And the Financial Times says an analyst puts the amount that AstraZeneca (AZN) charged a consortium of European nations for its Covid-19 vaccine at $ 3 and $ 4 per dose.
The price of developing Covid-19 vaccines threatens to become a bigger problem for the industry, which has struggled for years against efforts by Democrats and Republicans in Washington to limit the cost of prescription drugs.
In a statement to Barron’s On Tuesday night, Rep. Jan Schakowsky, an Illinois Democrat, accused Moderna, who began the phase 3 clinical trial of her vaccine on Monday, “already contemplating how to change [its] federal funding on soaring profits. “
At a House subcommittee hearing last week, Schakowsky asked Moderna and other drug makers if they would sell those vaccines at cost. Moderna’s representative, President Dr. Stephen Hoge, said the company would seek profit.
“Making a profit does not have to mean a price increase,” Schakowsky said Tuesday night. “If these reports are true, they will represent another example of why we should demand a reasonable price for Covid-19 vaccines and treatments that have been developed by taxpayers.”
In a statement Tuesday night, Moderna declined to comment on the Financial Times report. “We are having discussions with various governments and government entities about the potential supply of mRNA-1273,” the company said in a statement. “These discussions are private and, as such, we cannot comment, given the confidential nature of the discussions and contracts.”
Moderna received two separate cash commitments from the Advanced Biomedical Research and Development Authority, part of the US Department of Health and Human Services, to support the development of its Covid-19 vaccine. The first was for $ 483 million, the second, announced last Sunday, for $ 472 million.
When asked about the report on the price of the Modern vaccine, an HHS spokesman said: “Every private sector partner involved with Operation Warp Speed has negotiated the terms of their own agreement, and at this time, the Vaccine price has not been determined. “
The company also received support from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health, which collaborated in the development of the Covid-19 vaccine.
A NIAID spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
While some pharmaceutical companies, such as AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), have said they will sell the Covid-19 vaccine at a cost, Moderna is not alone in making a profit.
Albert Bourla, CEO of Pfizer, said Barron’s On Tuesday, suggesting that companies shouldn’t make a profit on Covid-19 drugs and vaccines “doesn’t make sense.”
Write to Josh Nathan-Kazis at [email protected]
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