In congressional testimony Wednesday, Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel unabashedly defended the company's plans to raise the US list price of its COVID-19 vaccines by more than 400 percent—despite creating the vaccine in partnership with the National Institutes of Health, receiving $1.7 billion in federal grant money for clinical development, and making roughly $36 billion from worldwide sales.
Bancel appeared this morning before the Senate's Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions committee, chaired by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who has long railed at the pharmaceutical price gouging in the US and pushed for policy reforms. After thanking Bancel for agreeing to testify, Sanders didn't pull any punches. He accused Moderna of "profiteering" and sharing in the "unprecedented level of corporate greed" seen in the pharmaceutical industry generally.
[...]
Early doses were priced between $15 to $16, while the government paid a little over $26 for the updated booster shots. When federal supplies run out later this year and the vaccines move to the commercial market, Moderna will set the list price of its vaccine at $130."This vaccine would not exist without NIH's partnership and expertise, and the substantial investment of the taxpayers of this country," Sanders summarized. "And here is the thank you that the taxpayers of this country received from Moderna for that huge investment: They are thanking the taxpayers of the United States by proposing to quadruple the price of the COVID vaccine."
[...] With no ground gained, Sanders turned to one final plea in the hearing:
"The United States—the people in our country—pay the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs in general... will you at least tell us today that the price you are charging for the vaccine will be lower than what other countries around the world are paying? Or are, once again, we going to pay the highest prices?"
Bancel started to respond by noting that health care costs are different in each country before Sanders interrupted and directed him to provide a straight answer, to which Bancel replied: "I cannot say the price will be lower than other countries."
Related:
Moderna CEO Says Private Investors Funded COVID Vaccine—Not Billions From Gov't
"Pure and Deadly Greed": Lawmakers Slam Pfizer's 400% Price Hike on COVID Shots
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Senators Warren and Welch urged Pfizer to back down from "unseemly profiteering":
Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Senator-elect Peter Welch (D-Vt.) sent a scathing letter to Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla this week over the company's plan to increase the price of its COVID-19 vaccines by 400 percent next year when it enters the commercial market.
"We urge you to back off from your proposed price increases and ensure COVID-19 vaccines are reasonably priced and accessible to people across the United States," they wrote, while also requesting information about the company's revenue and profits.
In October, Pfizer revealed plans to sell its COVID-19 vaccine from somewhere between $110 and $130 next year. Most recently, the US government paid only about $30 per dose.
The planned price hike is higher than the $50 price point that some financial analysts had expected Pfizer would set upon entry to the commercial market. It's a whopping 10,000 percent markup from the vaccine's estimated cost of manufacturing.
[...] In a news event last month, Bourla drew criticism for saying that the company's COVID-19 vaccine would remain "free to all Americans" despite the price hike, because health insurance companies would cover the vaccination, leading to no out-of-pocket costs. However, such cost increases to health care lead to increasing insurance premiums, which get taken out of workers' paychecks. Moreover, Bourla didn't address the cost for uninsured people, who currently have free access to the vaccines.
Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel on Monday pushed back on criticism of the company's plans to raise the price of its mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccines by 400 percent, arguing that the billions of dollars in federal funding the company received played little role in the vaccine's development.
Speaking at the Wall Street Journal Health Forum, Bancel suggested that the vaccine's development is thanks to private investors and that the federal funding merely hastened development that would have occurred regardless.
[...]
While the government most recently paid $26 per dose of Moderna's updated booster, the company is planning to raise the price of its shots to $110 to $130 per dose.
Related:
"Pure and Deadly Greed": Lawmakers Slam Pfizer's 400% Price Hike on COVID Shots
(Score: 4, Insightful) by XivLacuna on Saturday March 25 2023, @04:26PM (5 children)
Still not going to take it anyway. Let them milk the remaining people who are still buying into it.
Perhaps the government should ask for a refund of federal grant money since it apparently didn't go towards the development of it.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Adam on Saturday March 25 2023, @04:44PM (3 children)
The government could have included future price caps as a condition of the funding. Or congress could pass a law capping the price of this drug (and others) developed with federal funding (or just in general). Sanders whining about it is a waste of time that doesn't do anything for my wallet. That said, $130 doesn't seem unreasonable and theoretically there are alternatives on the market to compete with it on price.
(Score: 5, Informative) by epitaxial on Sunday March 26 2023, @05:50AM (1 child)
It costs Moderna $2.85 to make a dose. Fuck them.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 26 2023, @10:21AM
no, don't do that, you might breed more of them
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Monday March 27 2023, @02:22PM
Please see the related story "“Pure and Deadly Greed”: Lawmakers Slam Pfizer's 400% Price Hike on COVID Shots" https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=22/12/14/185231 [soylentnews.org]
That leave's Russia's COVID-19 vaccine and China's COVID-19 vaccine. Those are some really great options there.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 5, Touché) by epitaxial on Sunday March 26 2023, @05:54AM
You worried that the vaccine might turn you into a gay frog or contain chemicals?
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 25 2023, @05:04PM (5 children)
We get free prescriptions here in Scotland and that includes free seasonal Flu + COVID shots annually. I pay higher taxes for these privileges but I can rely on the NHS to provide me with free life long care.
(Score: 4, Informative) by Adam on Saturday March 25 2023, @08:32PM (4 children)
Most of us in the US get free vaccinations too, either through our insurance or a government healthcare program. In fact, you can usually get a $20 voucher to go along with a free to you flu shot.
(Score: 2, Troll) by captain normal on Saturday March 25 2023, @10:27PM (3 children)
Insurance isn't free, and I've not heard of vouchers (for what?) being passed out for flu shots. How about some citation for your claims.
Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts"- --Daniel Patrick Moynihan--
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Tork on Sunday March 26 2023, @01:13AM (2 children)
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈
(Score: 4, Touché) by sjames on Sunday March 26 2023, @04:19AM
I'll bet your insurance rate well exceeds the portion of taxes Europeans pay that goes to healthcare.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 26 2023, @10:25AM
My insurance stopped being useful around 20 years ago. There is no way that I can see outside of nearly dying to get the money back in claims that I put in. What they really want from me is a clean free $1200 per year and anything else I put in they offer me to claim back on extras. So I pay $2400 per year and can claim up to $1200 back so long as I use those services. Which I don't. If I go for the cheapest health insurance with the lowest rates it is around $1100 per year with almost nothing claimable unless you are nearly dying.
Even if you are nearly dying, it doesn't cover much and quite frankly unless you are poor it's not worth having unless you are really constantly sick and in and out of hospital. Even then you would need to pay 2 to 3 times this to get the benefits.
It doesn't matter which way you cut it, health insurance just isn't worth it. Sadly, we are forced to buy it or pay 1% additional tax. You work it out.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Thexalon on Saturday March 25 2023, @06:57PM (2 children)
The companies that boosted the price of lifesaving drugs by 300% or more made a nice big pile of cash from that decision, and didn't suffer anything resembling a negative consequence. So why would they possibly not want to do that again?
There's no sense in trying to appeal to a company's sense of humanity, because it doesn't have one. It doesn't have one by its very design, because the very structure of a corporation incentivizes everybody with the power to make real decisions to be completely psychotic.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 25 2023, @07:26PM
The invisible hand is supposed to solve all this. Let's all pray to the invisible hand with its invisible thumb on the scales of justice corrupting the institutions of government. All hail the capital owners.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by krishnoid on Saturday March 25 2023, @07:40PM
Sociopathic, but yes.
(Score: 2) by VLM on Monday March 27 2023, @04:11PM
Only the best blue checkmark people get it, truly the cognitive elite of our country, so they should raise the price of this valuable status symbol to at least $1300.00, maybe even $13000.00