Prominent drugmakers want to more than quadruple the price of their COVID-19 vaccines when the shots transition to the commercial market later this year, sparking a showdown with congressional lawmakers who say\u00a0Pfizer\u00a0and\u00a0Moderna\u00a0benefited from taxpayer largesse and are now gouging the public to pad handsome profits.
Senate Health Committee Chairman Bernard Sanders will grill\u00a0Moderna\u00a0CEO St\u00e9phane Bancel over the proposed hike at a highly anticipated hearing next week that will underscore tensions between Big Pharma and lawmakers outraged over ballooning drug prices.
Mr. Sanders, a democratic socialist from Vermont, is angry because\u00a0Moderna\u00a0benefited from collaboration with the federal government to bring the COVID-19 vaccine to market but is now planning to charge $110 to $130 per dose once federally purchased stockpiles are used up \u2014 a steep increase from the $15 to $26 it charged the government earlier in the pandemic.\u00a0
Mr. Sanders says it costs $2.85 to make each dose or 2.2% of what\u00a0Moderna\u00a0plans to charge.
The transition to the commercial market will likely coincide with a fall booster campaign that uses new shots against circulating strains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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