While Hoarding Vaccine Recipe, Moderna Got Another $300 Million From US Taxpayers

The Massachusetts-based pharmaceutical giant Moderna disclosed in a financial filing this week that it received another $300 million in U.S. government funding for coronavirus vaccine development in March even as the company hoarded its technology from the world—and attempted to undermine a critical vaccine project in South Africa.

In its quarterly report to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Moderna revealed that “in March 2022, we entered into a further amendment to [its Covid-19 vaccine contract with the federal government], increasing the amount of potential reimbursements by $308 million, in connection with costs associated with the clinical development for the adolescent and pediatric studies and the Phase 3 pivotal study.”

“The maximum award from [the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority], inclusive of the 2020, 2021, and 2022 amendments, was approximately $1.7 billion,” the filing reads. “All contract options have been exercised. As of March 31, 2022, the remaining available funding, net of revenue earned was $378 million.”

Moderna reported Wednesday that it sold $5.9 billion worth of its Covid-19 vaccine in the first quarter of 2022, far surpassing analysts’ revenue and profit expectations and briefly sending the company’s stock price soaring.

The corporation has come under fire recently for selling much of its vaccine supply to rich countries, even as poor nations continue to remain without access to shots.

Known as mRNA-1273, the coronavirus vaccine is Moderna’s only product on the market. The company has admitted that “100%” of the funding for its vaccine program has come from the U.S. government.

“Moderna received $1.7 billion dollars as public investment for R&D but still refuses to be accountable to the public,” Shailly Gupta, communications adviser at Doctors Without Borders, stated.

Last week, Moderna shareholders voted down resolutions urging the company—led by billionaire CEO Stéphane Bancel—to take part in technology transfer efforts such as the World Health Organization’s South Africa hub. The hub has succeeded in creating a close replica of Moderna’s mRNA-based coronavirus shot without the corporation’s help.

Far from supporting the WHO’s groundbreaking work, Moderna has been accused of trying to derail it by shielding its vaccine technology with sweeping and long-term patents.

It’s reported that Biden administration has grown frustrated over Moderna’s refusal to share its publicly funded vaccine technology. But the federal government has yet to use its leverage to force the company’s hand.

In a joint statement on Thursday, four House Democrats lamented that “Big Pharma continues to shamelessly protect its monopoly pricing scheme, despite receiving tens of billions of public dollars to develop Covid-19 vaccines.”

The statement was issued on the one-year anniversary of the Biden administration’s endorsement of efforts to temporarily waive vaccine-related patents at the World Trade Organization (WTO).

Since the administration’s announcement last May, however, little discernible progress has been made toward a final waiver agreement. The U.S. has dragged its feet and leading European nations have obstructed the process at every turn.

“Now, second-generation vaccines are being developed to protect people from being infected by recent variants,” the four House Democrats noted. “If the world repeats the grotesque inequity of access to the new vaccines and the most effective treatments, we know what will happen, because we just lived through it.”

“The only way to end the pandemic is to expand the production of vaccines and treatments,” they added.

Originally published at Commondreams.org, written by Jake Johnson.