US Government Awards Moderna $1.5 billion for COVID-19 Vaccine Candidate
In combination with BARDA’s previous award, the commitment for early access to Moderna’s vaccine candidate has now reached to up to $2.48 billion.
Moderna announced on August 11, 2020 that the US government has awarded it $1.5 billion for the manufacturing and delivery of 100 million doses of mRNA-1273, Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine candidate.
Through the agreement, the government, in conjunction with Operation Warp Speed, will also have the ability to purchase an additional 400 million doses of the vaccine candidate from the company, a Moderna press release said.
The announcement follows an award from the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) for $955 million in federal funding to support the development of mRNA-1273 to licensure, the press release said. With the government’s funding in combination with BARDA’s contribution, the commitment for early access to mRNA-1273 has now reached to up to $2.48 billion.
“We appreciate the confidence of the US government in our mRNA vaccine platform and the continued support,” said Stéphane Bancel, Moderna’s CEO, in the press release. “We are advancing the clinical development of mRNA-1273 with the ongoing Phase 3 study being conducted in collaboration with NIAID [National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases] and BARDA. In parallel, we are scaling up our manufacturing capability with our strategic partners, Lonza, Catalent, and Rovi, to address this global health emergency with a safe and effective vaccine.”
“For Operation Warp Speed, we are assembling a broad portfolio of vaccines to increase the odds that we will have at least one safe, effective vaccine as soon as the end of this year,” added Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, in the press release. “With this latest investment, we will have supported the vaccine candidate developed by Moderna in partnership with the NIH [National Institutes of Health] all the way from early development through clinical trials and now manufacturing, with the potential to bring millions of safe and effective doses to the American people.”
Source: Moderna
