US President Donald Trump has confirmed the government’s plan to buy 100 million doses of Moderna’s vaccine in an announcement on Tuesday.
The experimental Covid-19 vaccine from Moderna is currently in late-stage human trials.
In a separate statement, the company said that the deal for Moderna’s vaccine, mRNA-1273, costs $1.53 billion and will allow the federal government to buy up to 400 million additional doses.
The US already made an investment of $955 million in Moderna’s vaccine development. This brings its total investment up to $2.48 billion, according to the drugmaker’s press release.
The late-stage human trials focus on evaluating a vaccine’s efficacy and safety in 30,000 people. Moderna previously mentioned it may have results as early as October.
The White House’s deal with the Massachusetts-based company follows similar agreements it has signed with pharmaceutical giants Johnson and Johnson, Pfizer, and other drug manufacturers for their potential coronavirus vaccines.
“We are investing in the development and manufacture of the top six vaccine candidates to ensure rapid delivery. The military is ready to go, they’re ready to deliver a vaccine to Americans as soon as one is fully approved by the FDA and we’re very close to that approval,” Trump said during a press conference at the White House.
Meanwhile, the US Department of Health and Human Services announced it would pay Pfizer and biotech firm BioNTech $1.95 billion to develop and distribute 100 million doses of their coronavirus vaccine with the option to purchase 500 million additional doses. HHS later added it would give Johnson & Johnson over $1 billion for 100 million doses with the option for an additional 200 million.
HHS also signed an agreement with Sanofi and GlaxoSmithKline for up to $2.1 billion to create and distribute 100 million doses of their potential Covid-19 vaccine with the option to purchase an additional 500 million doses.
These deals are part of the American government’s efforts to speed up the development, manufacturing, and delivery of vaccines and treatments to address the infections under the program called Operation Warp Speed.
In an interview with ABC’s “Good Morning America,” HHS Secretary Alex Azar explained that the operation aims to produce “tens of millions of doses by December of FDA-gold-standard vaccine and hundreds of millions of doses as we go into the new year.”
“We appreciate the confidence of the U.S. government in our mRNA vaccine platform and the continued support,” Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel said in a press release.
Bancel said that Moderna would price its vaccine “well-below value” during the pandemic period and will price it at market value once the virus is under control.
Efficacy
White House health advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci said he hopes the Moderna vaccine will have an efficacy of at least 60% or even higher.
“Obviously, we would like to see it much, much higher. But 60% is the standard that you do for the cutoff. That’s not unusual,” he said. “I would like to see the highest percentage that we could possibly get.”
The percentage means that on average, the coronavirus vaccine could reduce a person’s risk of Covid-19 by 60%.
Dr. Fauci also said that he is not “not particularly concerned” about the safety risk of the Moderna vaccine, despite the use of a new technology to fight the virus.
