Drew Angerer / Florian Gaertner / Getty Images
One of the leading developers of COVID-19 vaccines has now been placed in the ranks of people like Martin Shkreli – the unfortunate pharmaceutical executive famous for raising the price of an old life-saving drug by more than 5,000 percent. He is now serving an 84-month prison sentence from a 2017 conviction on charges of fraud unrelated to drug prices.
Moderna, maker of one of only two vaccines with an emergency authorization to prevent COVID-19 in the United States, was embarrassed by the 2020 “Shkreli Award” from the Lown Institute, a center for health studies. The awards, announced annually four years ago, go to “the perpetrators of the ten most notorious examples of profit and dysfunction in health”.
Award judges cited the price of Moderna for its COVID-19 vaccine, which was developed with $ 1 billion in federal funding. Still, despite taxpayer support, Moderna set the estimated prices for its vaccine significantly higher than other vaccine developers.
In August, the company set the estimated price range of $ 32 to $ 37 per dose, making the two-dose regimen from $ 64 to $ 74 per person. At the time, pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and its partner BioNTech – which now has the other US-authorized COVID-19 vaccine – entered into an agreement with the U.S. government to provide doses of $ 19.50 each, for a two-dose regimen. $ 39 per person. Notably, Pfizer and BioNTech developed their vaccine without any federal funding. In addition, Johnson & Johnson had an agreement to provide the United States government with doses of its vaccine – still in development – at a rate of $ 10 per dose.
In November, amid criticism, Moderna reduced its estimated cost to vary from $ 25 to $ 37 per dose. And, in the end, it signed an agreement with the United States government to provide the vaccine at a price of $ 15 per dose, or $ 30 for a two-dose regimen per person.
Still, the Lown Institute judges wrote that, “given the initial investment by the U.S. government, we are essentially paying for the vaccine twice.”
Deborah Blum, award judge, added: “This is so blatantly greedy for a company that has no history of vaccine production and built the current one with the help of the taxpayer.” Blum is a Pulitzer Prize-winning science journalist and director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Knight Science Journalism program.
Moderna again appeared on the list of awards. Judges noted that Dr. Elizabeth Nabel, CEO of Brigham and Women’s Hospital and a board member of Moderna, wrote an article in February advocating for high drug prices. Nabel did not reveal her role in Moderna in the article. She also faced conflict of interest issues after Brigham and Women’s Hospital was selected as a test site for Moderna’s vaccine.
Award judges noted that Nabel received $ 487,500 in Moderna stock options and other payments in 2019 and sold $ 8.5 million in Moderna shares in 2020 after the company’s shares nearly quadrupled amid the fanfare in around its COVID-19 vaccine. Nabel resigned from Moderna’s board amid criticism in July.
Moderna did not immediately respond to Ars’ request for comment.