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 prosecutor leading an investigation into a horrific knife attack in a French Alpine town says four children aged between 22 months and 3 years suffered life-threatening wounds and that two adults also were injured.
The hot, dry conditions that are fuelling wildfires countrywide are just the beginning of what summer could look like in Canada this year, according to Environment Canada senior climatologist Dave Phillips.
The battle against hundreds of wildfires continues, as almost every jurisdiction in Canada remains under either heat or air quality warnings from the federal government. The day after what was supposed to be national Clean Air Day, dozens of alerts remain in place for unseasonable heat or smoky air quality.
Norwegian officials said the smoke from Canadian wildfires that has enveloped parts of the U.S. and Canada in a thick haze is expected to pour into Norway on Thursday.
New Brunswick students under the age of 16 who identify as trans and non-binary won't be able to officially change their names or pronouns in school without parental consent.
Pat Robertson, a religious broadcaster who turned a tiny Virginia station into the global Christian Broadcasting Network, tried a run for president and helped make religion central to Republican Party politics in America through his Christian Coalition, has died.
An official recommendation to wear a mask to protect yourself from wildfire smoke is being echoed by health experts as plumes of smoke make their way across parts of Canada, causing poor air quality.
The battle against hundreds of wildfires continues, as almost every jurisdiction in Canada remains under either heat or air quality warnings from the federal government. The day after what was supposed to be national Clean Air Day, dozens of alerts remain in place for unseasonable heat or smoky air quality.
The hot, dry conditions that are fuelling wildfires countrywide are just the beginning of what summer could look like in Canada this year, according to Environment Canada senior climatologist Dave Phillips.
New Brunswick students under the age of 16 who identify as trans and non-binary won't be able to officially change their names or pronouns in school without parental consent.
Hundreds of American firefighters have recently arrived in Canada to help battle wildfires and more are on the way, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Wednesday.
A man who helped return a 140-year-old Tlingit robe to the British Columbia First Nation where it was created says it's as if the regalia called out to its people and they are bringing it home.
An Ontario man has been charged with first-degree murder in the death of Claudia Iacono, the daughter-in-law of Mafia associate Moreno Gallo, after she was gunned down at the wheel of her car in Montreal last month.
A replacement plane for an Air India flight diverted to Russia because of an engine problem landed in San Francisco on Thursday, carrying all passengers and crew, the airline said.
About 300 infants, toddlers and older children have been rescued from an orphanage in Sudan's capital after being trapped there while fighting raged outside, aid officials said Thursday. The evacuation came after 71 children died from hunger and illness in the facility since mid-April.
Senegal's president has ordered an investigation to determine who was responsible for protests by supporters of a political opponent that turned deadly last week but said he was open to consulting with the parties involved.
Opponents of French President Emmanuel Macron's pension reform failed on Thursday to pass a repeal bill, in their latest effort to maintain the retirement age at 62.
The prosecutor leading an investigation into a horrific knife attack in a French Alpine town says four children aged between 22 months and 3 years suffered life-threatening wounds and that two adults also were injured.
Five residents of a Russian-occupied city next to a breached dam have died in massive flooding triggered by the catastrophe, its Kremlin-appointed mayor said Thursday, the first official report of deaths from one of the largest environmental crises since Russia's invasion of Ukraine more than 15 months ago.
A leader of the fight to secure freedom for a Canadian human-rights activist detained in China for 17 years is taking the latest diplomatic deep-freeze between Ottawa and Beijing in stride.
Canadians are twice as likely to support a formal inquiry into foreign interference, as opposed to public hearings, according to new polling from Nanos Research for CTV News.
As forest fires rage across the country, experts are sounding the alarm over the physical and psychological impacts of the wildfires and saying that they pose a serious public health issue, which individuals and governments need to acknowledge and act upon.
Internal emails from the agency tasked with regulating the price of patented drugs in Canada shows discord and division was sparked by a letter from the health minister, culminating in an indefinite pause on major drug-price reforms and several resignations.
Being a 'sleep procrastinator' might not only make you grumpy the next day, it can put your health at risk. A sleep expert shares tips for making sure bedtime is shut-eye time.
Scientists have documented the first-known instance of a 'virgin birth' by a crocodile, which had been living in isolation for 16 years at Costa Rican zoo, according to a study published Wednesday.
The James Webb Space Telescope set its sights on a galaxy 20 million light-years away, capturing a dazzling star-forming galaxy in images streaked with the signature of passing asteroids.
Reporters are a skeptical bunch, so it was unusual to hear so many of them raving about their firsthand experience with Apple's next Big Thing: the high-priced headset called Vision Pro, a device infused with totally virtual reality as well as augmented reality that projects digital images on top of real-world settings.
A lawyer for Prince Harry finished setting out the royal's case against a newspaper publisher on Thursday, quizzing a former tabloid reporter about information inserted into stories by then-editor Piers Morgan.
The many lives of Arnold Schwarzenegger get neatly divided into three equal parts in 'Arnold,' a Netflix documentary-cum-self-led tour through his remarkable success story as bodybuilder, actor and politician, each more improbable than the other.
Irving Oil says it’s undertaking a “strategic review” with an eye to its future. In a release Wednesday, the company says it’s looking at a number of options, including the sale of its assets.
Montana became the first state in the U.S. to enact a complete ban on TikTok on Wednesday when Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte signed a measure that's more sweeping than any other state's attempts to curtail the social media app, which is owned by a Chinese tech company.
Years ago, when my now-grown daughter Justine was a toddler, we visited a U-pick farm where she plucked plump, ripe strawberries from a field of sprawling plants. Some made it into the basket on that sunny June day; others went directly into her mouth.
Blue Jays pitcher Anthony Bass said he's "in a better place moving forward" after speaking with Pride Toronto's executive director in the wake of his social media post that supported anti-2SLGBTQ+ boycotts.
A group of climate activists claimed responsibility on Wednesday for deflating the tires of sport utility vehicles in Denmark's capital. More than 100 vehicles were vandalized, police said.
Insurance industry group Equite Association says vehicle theft in multiple provinces surged last year. Vehicle theft was up by 50 per cent in Quebec year over year, by 48.3 per cent in Ontario, by 34.5 per cent in Atlantic Canada and by 18.3 per cent in Alberta.
