UNITED STATES—On March 27, details of the licensing contract between the United States government, the National Institute of Health (NIH) and Moderna was released to the public indicating profit was made from the sale of the COVID-19 vaccine.
Members of the U.S. Congress and Senate were present when the details of the financial negotiations were released including a non-creditable $400 million payout to the National Institute of Health (NIH).
On March 23, 2023, Moderna CEO, Stephane Bancel testified before the U.S. Senate’s Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee in the Hart Senate office in Washington D.C.
According to Bancel, Moderna agreed to pay the NIH to license spike protein technology the company used in the COVID-19 vaccine. A power struggle occurred where Moderna reportedly hesitated to include all the details. The original contract was signed on December 14, 2022. Parts of the original contract have been redacted.
James Love, the director of the nonprofit, Knowledge Ecology International told Epoch Times, “It’s common, but[expletive] to redact royalties on a negotiated license on a government patent.”
“The Department of Defense (DoD), on behalf of and in coordination with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), awarded a $1.74 billion agreement to purchase over 65 million doses of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine for a fall vaccination campaign. The vaccine will target the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron subvariant viruses, as recommended by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA),” reads a statement from the U.S. Department of Defense from July 28, 2022.
“Today’s award of up to $1.525 billion is for the manufacturing and delivery of 100 million doses of mRNA-1273 including incentive payments for timely delivery of the product. With the previous award of up to $955 million from BARDA for the development of mRNA-1273 to licensure, today’s announcement brings the U.S. government commitments for early access to mRNA-1273 to up to $2.48 billion. Under the terms of the agreement, the U.S. government, as a part of Operation Warp Speed, will also have the option to purchase up to an additional 400 million doses of mRNA-1273 from Moderna,” as quoted by a Modern release on August 11, 2020.
According to the U.S Government Accountability Office, the NIH received $2 billion in royalties from its contributions to 34 drugs sold between 1991-2019.
“Dr. Fauci served as NIAID Director from 1984 to 2022. He oversaw an extensive research portfolio of basic and applied research to prevent, diagnose, and treat established infectious diseases such as HIV/AIDS, respiratory infections, diarrheal diseases, tuberculosis, and malaria as well as emerging diseases such as Ebola, Zika, and COVID-19. He also led the NIAID research effort on transplantation and immune-related illnesses, including autoimmune disorders, asthma, and allergies,” reads a statement form the NIH website. Fauci advised seven Presidents about HIV/AIDS and other domestic and global health issues.
