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HHS Announces Plans to Pay Moderna $176 Million for mRNA Flu Vaccine
U.S. News & World Report reported:
On April 22, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced that the government will invest $176 million in Moderna to expedite the creation of a pandemic influenza vaccine, according to a report from the Associated Press. This vaccine could be used to combat potential bird flu infections in humans, addressing increasing concerns about the spread of the virus among dairy cows nationwide.
Avian influenza (H5N1), commonly known as bird flu, was detected in dairy cows earlier this year and has since spread to more than 135 herds across 12 states, the AP reported. To date, it has infected three people, all of whom experienced mild cases. Federal health officials are stressing that the risk to the general public remains low.
Moderna is currently in the very early stages of testing a bird flu vaccine using the same mRNA technology that allowed for rapid development and rollout of COVID-19 vaccines. The funds from the U.S. government will enable the ongoing development of the vaccine, including late-stage trials next year, if the results from the early studies prove promising.
Major Tuberculosis Vaccine Trial Completes Enrollment Faster Than Expected
A closely watched clinical trial testing what could be the world’s first new tuberculosis vaccine in a century has hit its enrollment target, ahead of expectations. The Phase 3 study of the M72/AS01E vaccine, which is taking place at 54 sites across five countries, started delivering shots to volunteers last March.
While its sponsors had originally said it may take up to two years to complete enrollment, they announced Monday that the sites in South Africa, Kenya, Malawi, Zambia, and Indonesia have successfully recruited the 20,000 participants needed for the study.
“People have generally been really enthusiastic about participating,” said Lee Fairlie, a researcher at Johannesburg’s University of the Witwatersrand and one of the principal investigators for the South Africa trial sites.
Gilead Will Pay $202 Million to Settle Charges of Paying Kickbacks to Docs for Boosting HIV Drug Sales
Gilead Sciences agreed to pay $202 million to settle allegations of paying kickbacks to doctors in exchange for prescribing several of its HIV medicines, the latest example of a controversial practice that has come back to haunt numerous drugmakers over the years.
From 2011 through 2017, Gilead held more than 17,300 speaker programs of which 9,500 were dinners to promote sales of HIV drugs that were supposed to be educational. But the dinners were at expensive restaurants that federal authorities maintained were “wholly inappropriate” venues for such gatherings. Moreover, the dinners were also held repeatedly on the same topics, and so doctors who continually attended were fed “lavish meals.”
As an example, Gilead paid more than $300,000 in honorarium payments to a physician who eventually wrote prescriptions for its HIV drugs that resulted in over $6 million in Medicare, Medicaid and TRICARE payments for the medicines. Meanwhile, more than 80 doctors attended five or more HIV dinner programs on the same topic within a six-month period, according to the complaint.
As Vaccine Sales Slip, GSK Touts ‘Mitigation Options’ for Potential Drug Tariffs
As GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) weathers the storm of sinking vaccine sales and gears up for key launches in its specialty medicines sector, the British drug giant feels prepared for any challenges that U.S. drug import tariffs may bring.
Over the past week, Big Pharma’s earnings season has allowed industry leaders to weigh in on regional drug pricing policies and potential pharmaceutical tariffs. During her company’s conference call with analysts on Wednesday, GSK CEO Emma Walmsley took a measured tone and said GSK is ready to utilize “multiple levers” to “both navigate and mitigate” potential pharmaceutical-specific tariffs.
The comments came as the company kept its full-year guidance expectations intact, projecting 6% to 8% growth in its core operating profit this year. During the first quarter of 2025, GSK’s total sales climbed 4% to 7.5 billion pounds sterling ($9.74 billion), GSK reported Wednesday.
