Moderna is considering increasing the price of its COVID-19 vaccine by more than 400 percent — from $26 per dose to between $110 and $130 per dose — according to a report from The Wall Street Journal.
Ars has reached out to Moderna for comment, but has not yet received a response. If realized, the plan would match the previously announced price increase for Pfizer-BioNTech’s rival COVID-19 vaccine.
The Journal spoke to Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel at the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco Monday, who said of the 400 percent price increase, “I would think that kind of pricing is in line with the value.”
Until now, Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech’s mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccines have been bought by the government and offered free to Americans. In July’s latest federal contract, Moderna’s updated booster shot cost the government $26 per dose, compared to $15-$16 per dose in previous supply contracts, the Journal notes. Similarly, last summer, the government paid just over $30 per dose for Pfizer-BioNTech’s vaccine, compared to $19.50 per dose in contracts as of 2020.
But as the federal government withdraws from distributing the vaccines, their makers are moving to the commercial market — with price adjustments. Financial analysts had previously expected Pfizer to set the commercial price for its vaccine at just $50 per dose, but were surprised in October when Pfizer announced plans to price it between $110 and $130. Analysts then expected the price of Pfizer Moderna and other vaccine manufacturers to follow suit, which now appears to be happening.
Lawmakers have already criticized Pfizer for the surge. In a letter sent last month to Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla, Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Peter Welch (D-Vt.) called the price hike “pure and deadly greed” and accused the company of “improper profiteering”.
“We urge you to refrain from your proposed price increases and ensure that COVID-19 vaccines are reasonably priced and accessible to people in the United States,” they wrote.
The revelation that Moderna may match Pfizer’s price increase comes just a day after Moderna announced that sales of COVID-19 vaccines will total about $18.4 billion in 2022.
“We are entering 2023 in a great position, with significant momentum in our clinical pipeline, a very energetic team and a strong balance sheet of more than $18 billion in cash and cash equivalents,” Moderna’s Bancel said in a press release Monday.
Moderna also noted in the release that it expects to make at least $5 billion in COVID-19 vaccine sales by 2023.
