Moderna CEO defends US$130 COVID-19 vaccine price in U.S. Senate hearing
Moderna CEO defends US$130 COVID-19 vaccine price in U.S. Senate hearing
BENGALURU, India and NEW YORK -
Moderna Inc's chief executive on Wednesday defended the company's plan to quadruple the price of its COVID-19 vaccine, telling a U.S. Senate committee hearing it will no longer have the economies of scale from government procurement when the shots move into the private market.
Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel was called to testify after the company flagged plans to raise the vaccine's price to as much as US$130 per dose, drawing the ire of Democratic U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, who chairs the influential Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP).
Sanders on Wednesday asked Bancel to reconsider the price hikes, saying they could make it unaffordable for millions of Americans and were unjustified given the government's research contributions and $1.7 billion in assistance in developing the vaccine. His comments echoed his January letter to Bancel.
Bancel said Moderna's next COVID-19 shots will be more expensive because they will be sold in single-dose vials or pre-filled syringes for the commercial market versus the 10-dose vials it has sold to the government up until now.
The government in May plans to end the COVID-19 public health emergency, putting much of the vaccine purchasing in the hands of the private sector.
Bancel also said the company anticipated that it would likely make more doses than needed to ensure it had enough for the private market and had calculated wasted shots into the price.
"On top of all this, we're expecting a 90-per-cent reduction in demand," Bancel said. "As you can see, we're losing economies of scale."
Moderna in February forecast $5 billion in COVID-19 vaccine sales this year, far less than the $18.4 billion windfall in 2022, due to decreasing demand for the shots.
Sanders has for years railed against high U.S. drug prices and backed Medicare-for-all. His chairmanship of the HELP committee has further put drug companies in his crosshairs.
Sign up to receive the most important updates in your inbox two times a week
This undated electron microscope image made available by the U.S. National Institutes of Health in February 2020 shows the Novel Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, orange, emerging from the surface of cells, green, cultured in the lab. (NIAID-RML via AP)
The federal government will be providing $1.5 million to Pride organizations across the country for increased security measures at parades and other events this year, CTV News has learned.
Paul Bernardo should be returned to a maximum-security prison, the lawyer representing the families of his young murder victims said as he called on the Correctional Service of Canada to be more transparent about what led to his transfer to a medium-security facility in the first place.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is scheduled to provide an update on the wildfires that have forced thousands of people from their homes and caused widespread property damage in several provinces.
Newly released documents say the intelligence community's relationship with its key watchdog has been particularly strained over the last year due to a 'level of resistance' to scrutiny.
Special teams played a difference on Sunday night as the United States scored two short-handed goals en route to a 6-1 victory over Canada in the World Para Hockey Championship gold-medal game.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is scheduled to provide an update on the wildfires that have forced thousands of people from their homes and caused widespread property damage in several provinces.
The federal government will be providing $1.5 million to Pride organizations across the country for increased security measures at parades and other events this year, CTV News has learned.
Air quality remains a concern in regions throughout Quebec, including the Greater Montreal area which is currently under a smog warning. Environment and Climate Change Canada issued smog warnings for the Greater Montreal Area, and special air quality statements are in effect for large portions of the province due to the growing number of forest fires.
Quebec provincial police (SQ) have identified the adult victim of a fishing incident that claimed five lives over the weekend, most of them children. Keven Girard, 37, was among a group of 11 people swept up by the tide late Friday night while fishing along the shore in Portneuf-sur-Mer, a village about 550 kilometres northeast of Montreal.
Several survivors of the train derailment in India, which killed 275 people and injured hundreds, say they are still struggling to comprehend the disaster.
The body of one of three men who had been missing after the partial collapse of an apartment building in Davenport, Iowa, has been found, a city official confirmed Sunday.
Moscow officials claimed that Ukrainian forces were making a major effort to punch through Russian defensive lines in southeast Ukraine for a second day Monday. Kyiv authorities didn't confirm the attacks and suggested the claim was a Russian misinformation ruse.
Families of the victims of India’s deadliest train crash in decades filled a hospital in Bhubaneswar city on Monday to identify and collect bodies of relatives, as railway officials recommended a federal criminal probe of the crash that killed 275 people.
A wayward and unresponsive business plane that flew over the nation's capital Sunday afternoon caused the military to scramble a fighter jet before the plane crashed in Virginia, officials said. The fighter jet caused a loud sonic boom that was heard across the capital region.
The United States military released video Monday of what it called an 'unsafe' Chinese manoeuvre in the Taiwan Strait on the weekend, in which a Chinese navy ship cut sharply across the path of an American destroyer, forcing the U.S. vessel to slow to avoid a collision.
The federal government will be providing $1.5 million to Pride organizations across the country for increased security measures at parades and other events this year, CTV News has learned.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is scheduled to provide an update on the wildfires that have forced thousands of people from their homes and caused widespread property damage in several provinces.
Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson says the federal government is not ruling out finding ways to achieve net zero sooner than the existing 2050 goal, but would not say whether there would be a definitive commitment to move up the target.
The number of people in Canada with inflammatory bowel disease is increasing rapidly and is expected to grow to 470,000 by 2035, according to a new report from Crohn's and Colitis Canada.
New study finds increase in antipsychotic drugs use in long-term care homes across Canada, despite no significant increase in behavioural symptoms – something that may expose a potential area of concern for quality of care, researchers say.
Apple appears poised to unveil a long-rumoured headset that will place its users between the virtual and real world, while also testing the technology trendsetter's ability to popularize new-fangled devices after others failed to capture the public's imagination.
The Nova Scotia government says it is investigating the theft of personal information stolen through a global privacy breach to a third-party file transfer system the province was using.
Constructed by a team at London, Ont.’s Western University, a tiny satellite — roughly the size of a Rubik’s cube — will ride aboard a SpaceX mission bound for the International Space Station.
'Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse' opened in U.S. and Canadian theatres with a massive US$120.5 million, more than tripling the debut of the 2018 animated original and showing the kind of movie-to-movie box-office growth that would be the envy of even the mightiest of Hollywood franchises.
Many big companies, including Target and Bud Light's parent, are still backing Pride events in June despite the minefield that the monthlong celebration has become for some of them.
Wall Street is relatively flat Monday following last week's last surge propelled by U.S. jobs data that raised new questions about if or when a recession might arrive.
Jessica Tuomela is a swimmer and triathlete, and has been on the podium at the Paralympics, but says the feeling returning a missing person home safely is no comparison.
AC Milan's Sweden striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic said on Sunday he had decided to end his playing career at the age of 41 after a trophy-laden career at some of Europe's top clubs.
Karim Benzema converted his penalty kick and received a standing ovation from fans before being substituted at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium, bringing an end to his memorable career with Real Madrid on Sunday.
Ontario has committed to paying a third of the cost to save a $5-billion electric vehicle battery plant in Windsor, Ont., premier Doug Ford said Thursday.
The prospect of Fernando Alonso ending a decade-long wait for his 33rd Formula One win in front of tens of thousands of fans at his home race proved too good to be true on Sunday.
Max Verstappen had warned that his Red Bull team was good enough to win every single race of the Formula One season. On Sunday he took one more step toward that ambitious sweep by easing to victory at the Spanish Grand Prix.
