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Trump Team Weighs Pulling Funds For Bird Flu Vaccine
REUTERS/DADO RUVIC/ILLUSTRATION
Test tubes are seen labeled "Bird Flu" words in this illustration in June 2024. U.S. Health officials are reevaluating a $590 million contract for bird flu shots that the Biden administration awarded to Moderna Inc., people familiar with the matter said.
U.S. Health officials are reevaluating a $590 million contract for bird flu shots that the Biden administration awarded to Moderna Inc., people familiar with the matter said.
The review is part of a government push to examine spending on messenger RNA-based vaccines, the technology that powered Moderna's COVID vaccine. The bird flu shot contract was awarded to Moderna in the Biden administration's final days, sending the company's stock up 13% in the two days following the Jan. 17 announcement.
The U.S. Is in the midst of a record-breaking bird flu outbreak that's affected dozens of cattle herds along with poultry flocks nationwide, sending egg prices soaring. While human cases have been relatively rare, the virus has caused deaths in the past, and experts are concerned that it could become more transmissible and dangerous.
>> RELATED: Flu vaccine panel meeting canceled, FDA confirms
"While it is crucial that the US Department and Health and Human Services support pandemic preparedness, four years of the Biden administration's failed oversight have made it necessary to review agreements for vaccine production," a spokesperson for HHS said in a written statement.
Shares of Moderna fell as much as 6.6% in trading after U.S. Markets closed Wednesday. The company didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
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Moderna said in January it was gearing up for a big final-stage trial of its vaccine, after successfully completing an early stage trial last year. Without funding, that big trial may not happen.
Messenger RNA technology was the foundation of COVID vaccines from both Moderna and Pfizer Inc., which worked with partner BioNTech SE on its pandemic shots. The technology allows vaccines to be designed and made more quickly than traditional approaches.
The government also told Vaxart Inc. To stop much of the work on a federal contract for research on a new oral COVID vaccine, according to regulatory filings. The contract provided up to $453 million, according to government records.
Moderna has been under pressure to find new sources of revenue as its COVID vaccine sales fall sharply and it spends heavily on its pipeline. The contract was pushed through with some urgency, the people said, because of concerns that the Trump administration would be less willing to fund vaccine makers.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who was sworn in two weeks ago as head of HHS, has openly criticized COVID shots. In a 2021 meeting of a Louisiana House of Representatives oversight meeting on COVID vaccination, he called it "the deadliest vaccine ever made."
Government funding for research to develop vaccines like Moderna's as well as therapeutics for potential pandemic threats comes from an office within HHS. Early in the pandemic, Moderna secured a $483 million contract from the office to develop, test and scale up manufacturing of an mRNA-based COVID vaccine.
Moderna became embroiled in a patent dispute with the National Institutes of Health over credit for the company's vaccine. The government objected after Moderna listed only company scientists as inventors on a patent application, calling the NIH researchers who helped develop it "collaborators."
Kennedy has recently walked back some of his anti-vaccine rhetoric, but key vaccine meetings and public health campaigns overseen by agencies within HHS have reportedly been paused. Health workers within a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention immunization unit were also recently laid off, Bloomberg reported last week.
Pharmalittle: We're Reading About A Cancelled FDA Vaccine Meeting, A Moderna Bird Flu Vaccine, And More
Feb. 27, 2025
Pharmalot Columnist, Senior Writer
Top of the morning to you, and a fine one it is, despite the dreary gray skies hovering over the Pharmalot campus. We are doing our best to maintain sunny spirits, though, because once again, we recall some helpful wisdom from the Morning Mayor, who taught us that "every new day should be unwrapped like a precious gift." To celebrate the notion, we are brewing still more cups of stimulation and inviting you to join us. Our choice today is churro cinnamon, for those tracking our habits. Feel free to reach for your own cup while you peruse the items of interest assembled below. After all, the neurons can use all the help they can get. On that note, have a lovely day and do keep in touch. We appreciate any and all thoughts and suggestions. …
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration canceled an upcoming vaccine advisory committee meeting to discuss influenza virus strains, STAT notes. The meeting was scheduled for March 13. Committee members received a cancellation email on Wednesday afternoon. Committee member Paul Offit said the email contained no information about rescheduling the meeting, and noted that the meeting is a critical resource for vaccine makers trying to figure out which flu strains to include in their shots for the next flu season. U.S. Health and Human Services secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime critic of vaccines, has said he plans to root out industry influence in health agencies. Part of that plan, according to reports, may be removing advisory committee members who he perceives to have conflicts of interest.
U.S. Health officials are reevaluating a $590 million contract for bird flu shots that the Biden administration awarded to Moderna, according to Bloomberg News. The review is part of a government push to examine spending on messenger RNA-based vaccines, the technology that powered Moderna's Covid vaccine. The bird flu shot contract was awarded to Moderna in the Biden administration's final days, sending company shares up 13% in the two days following the Jan. 17 announcement. Moderna said in January that it was gearing up for a big final-stage trial of its vaccine, after successfully completing an early-stage trial last year. Without funding, that big trial may not happen. "While it is crucial that the US Department and Health and Human Services support pandemic preparedness, four years of the Biden administration's failed oversight have made it necessary to review agreements for vaccine production," a spokesperson for HHS said in a written statement.
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SubscribeAnti-Vaxxer Bob Kennedy May Pull Funding For Bird Flu Vaccine
Wacky Bob Kennedy and the health officials who work for him are now reevaluating a $590 million contract for bird flu shots that the Biden administration awarded to Moderna Inc., people familiar with the matter said. Because, you know, "vaccines bad"! Via Bloomberg News:
The review is part of a government push to examine spending on messenger RNA-based vaccines, the technology that powered Moderna's Covid vaccine. The bird flu shot contract was awarded to Moderna in the Biden administration's final days, sending the company's stock up 13% in the two days following the Jan. 17 announcement.
The US is in the midst of a record-breaking bird flu outbreak that's affected dozens of cattle herds along with poultry flocks nationwide, sending egg prices soaring. While human cases have been relatively rare, the virus has caused deaths in the past, and experts are concerned that it could become more transmissible and dangerous.
"While it is crucial that the US Department and Health and Human Services support pandemic preparedness, four years of the Biden administration's failed oversight have made it necessary to review agreements for vaccine production," a spokesperson for HHS said in a written statement.
Moderna said in January it was gearing up for a big final-stage trial of its vaccine, after successfully completing an early-stage trial last year. Without funding, that big trial may not happen.
Health workers within a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention immunization unit were recently laid off, Bloomberg reported last week.
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