The Trump administration will pay Pfizer nearly $2bn for a December delivery of 100m doses of a Covid-19 vaccine the pharmaceutical company is developing, the health and human services (HHS) secretary, Alex Azar, announced on Wednesday.
Pharmaceutical company to deliver 100m doses of vaccine but US could buy another 500m under agreement, Alex Azar said
There is no approved vaccine for Covid-19, but the government has provided financial support for five vaccine candidates. The agreement is part of a plan to ramp up manufacturing in the event a vaccine is approved. The US could buy another 500m doses under the agreement, Azar said.
Johnson & Johnson
The $1 billion bet: Pharma giant and U.S. government team up in all-out coronavirus vaccine push
Science’s COVID-19 reporting is supported by the Pulitzer Center.
The crowded race to develop a vaccine against the new coronavirus just received a potential billion-dollar boost: Johnson & Johnson (J&J) announced on 30 March that it and the U.S. government, through an agency under the Department of Health and Human Services, would together devote up to that amount to move a candidate product made by its Janssen division across the finish line.
Janssen’s vaccine is built around an engineered version of adenovirus 26 (Ad26), which normally causes common colds but has been disabled so that it cannot replicate. Company scientists stich into this Ad26 “vector” a gene for the surface protein from the new coronavirus spreading around the world. Janssen is testing this same Ad26 platform in vaccines against Ebola, HIV, respiratory syncytial virus, and Zika. J&J had $42 billion in pharmaceutical sales last year, making it the sixth largest big pharma company. Sanofi is the only other in the top 10 that has a COVID-19 vaccine project.
Moderna
- President Donald Trump on Tuesday announced the U.S. government will purchase 100 million doses of Moderna’s experimental coronavirus vaccine.
- Moderna separately said the deal for its vaccine, mRNA-1273, is worth $1.53 billion and will give the federal government the option to purchase up to 400 million additional doses.
- The U.S. government’s deal with Moderna follows similar agreements it’s made with pharmaceutical giants Pfizer, Johnson and Johnson and other drug makers for their potential Covid-19 vaccines.
President Donald Trump on Tuesday announced the U.S. government will purchase 100 million doses of Moderna’s experimental coronavirus vaccine, which is currently in late-stage human trials.
Moderna separately said the deal for its vaccine, mRNA-1273, is worth $1.53 billion and will give the federal government the option to purchase up to 400 million additional doses. The U.S. has already invested $955 million in Moderna’s vaccine development, bringing its total investment up to $2.48 billion, the company said in a press release Tuesday.
Moderna’s coronavirus vaccine is in late-stage human trials, which will test its efficacy and safety in 30,000 people. The Massachusetts-based company previously said it could expect results as early as October.
The U.S. government’s deal with Moderna follows similar agreements it’s made with pharmaceutical giants Pfizer, Johnson and Johnson and other drug makers for their potential Covid-19 vaccines.
