Moderna CEO defends vaccine price hike, vows to avoid charges
Moderna s CEO on Wednesday defended a plan to more than double the COVID- 19 vaccine price, but he also said that the drugmaker will work to make sure patients don't pay anything at drugstores or clinics.
The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions said Stephane Bancel said that the drugmaker will charge a list price of around $130 per dose for the vaccine in the U.S.
The price is expected to go into effect later this year. Until now, the federal government had been Moderna's lone U.S. customer, buying doses in bulk to make sure that people weren't charged anything.
The government paid $15 per dose in 2020 and more than $26 for Moderna's bivalent booster last summer, according to an analysis by the non-profit Kaiser Family Foundation.
The U.S. has administered more than 270 million doses of Moderna's original COVID 19 vaccine and booster shots, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It is the second most popular coronaviruses vaccine, behind the shot made by Pfizer, which is raising prices.
Senator Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. said Moderna made more than $20 billion in profits over the past two years, and the federal government contributed billions of dollars to the vaccine development.
Sanders said that the hike will hit government payers like Medicaid and cost taxpayers, as he pressed Bancel to reconsider the price.
The government was given a discount with Moderna's initial prices, according to the CEO. He said that the company must assume more costs and risk.
He said that the drugmaker will switch to single-dose vials from ones that held 10 doses.
He said Moderna will have to make more doses than it anticipates using to ensure sufficient is available. The cost of unused doses will have to be absorbed by the company, something the government has done.
He said that the volume we had during the pandemic gave us economies of scale that we won't have anymore.
Sanders asked Bancel if Moderna was prepared to negotiate the price with Medicare, Medicaid and other agencies. Moderna was having discussions with all the different customers, according to Bancel. While Moderna s list price for its Spikevax vaccine will soar, company leaders have emphasized that people with insurance will continue to pay nothing out of pocket for the shots. Moderna has a patient assistance program that covers shots for people without coverage or who are underinsured.
Senators noted that these programs can involve complex paperwork and be difficult to use during Wednesday's hearing.
We want that patient assistance program to be something that works for patients and is not just something that s like, Oh yeah, we have it, but no one can use it, said Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La. Bancel said Moderna would announce more details on plans to help the uninsured this fall, and the company was working to make the program as easy as possible to access. Pfizer said it will charge $110 to $130 for a dose of its COVID 19 vaccine. The cost of switching to single-dose vials and commercial distribution was also cited as a reason for the new prices. Pfizer used no government funding to develop its vaccine.
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