The United States is tying payments for COVID-19 vaccines to timing milestones for production and approval, according to public documents and a Trump administration official, putting pressure on drugmakers including Moderna Inc (MRNA.O) to meet ambitious targets.
In a deal with Moderna announced this week, federal agencies negotiated a sliding scale of payments. The Cambridge, Massachusetts, biotech’s $1.5-billion deal pays out in full if its vaccine receives regulatory clearance by January 31, 2021, according to filings. It receives $1.2 billion, if it falls short of that timing goal.
Moderna also receives $600 million when it can demonstrate it has built out industrial-scale manufacturing capabilities for its vaccine, even if that happens before the drug is authorized by regulators, the filings show.
TVNL Comment: Money talks. Billions of dollars talk very loudly. Be ready for an untested, very possibly unsafe, and surely premature vaccine.
More...
President-elect Donald Trump's choice to run the sprawling government agency that administers Medicare, Medicaid, and the...
Among the cast of characters poised to join the Trump administration, no one is as exasperating,...
Though seasonal illnesses like the flu are just starting to gain some traction, there’s one...
