Moderna’s lead executive on Wednesday, March 22, defended the company’s plan to quadruple the value of its COVID-19 vaccine, telling a U. S. Senate committee that it would be a major contributor. The U. S. government will have the economies of scale of government procurement when vaccines go private. .
Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel called to testify after the company announced plans to raise the price of the vaccine to $130 depending on the dose, angering Democratic U. S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, who chairs the influential health, education, hard work and pensions committee. (HELP) .
Sanders on Wednesday called on Bancel to reconsider price increases, saying they could make it unaffordable for millions of Americans and were unwarranted given the government’s contributions to the studies and $1. 7 billion in aid for vaccine progression. His comments echoed his January letter to Bancel.
Bancel said Moderna’s upcoming COVID-19 vaccines will be more expensive because they will be sold in single-dose vials or prefilled syringes for the advertising market than the 10-dose vials it has sold to the government so far.
In May, the government plans to end the COVID public fitness emergency, much of the vaccine is acquired in private hands.
Bancel also said the company expected it would likely make more doses to ensure it had enough for the private market and had calculated the missed price hits.
“The sensible thing about all of that is that we expect 90% demand relief,” Bancel said. “As you can see, we’re wasting economies of scale. “
Moderna forecast in February $5 billion in COVID vaccine sales this year, down from $18. 4 billion forecast in 2022, due to declining demand for vaccines.
For years, Sanders has spoken out in favor of drug caps in the United States and supported Medicare for All. His chairmanship of the HELP committee has put pharmaceutical corporations back in the spotlight. Rappler. com