The Trump administration has canceled a contract awarded to Moderna for the late-stage development of its bird flu vaccine for humans, as well as the right to purchase shots, the drugmaker announced on Wednesday.
Shares of Moderna were flat in after-market trading.
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Moderna in January was awarded $590 million by the Biden administration to advance the development of its bird flu vaccine, and support the expansion of clinical studies for up to five additional subtypes of pandemic influenza
This was in addition to $176 million awarded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) last year to complete the late-stage development and testing of a pre-pandemic mRNA-based vaccine against the H5N1 avian influenza.
HHS told Reuters earlier this year that it was reviewing agreements made by the Biden administration for vaccine production.
“The cancellation means that the government is discarding what could be one of the most effective and rapid tools to combat an avian influenza outbreak,” said Amesh Adalja, senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, adding that it is the opposite approach Trump took with Operation Warp Speed to combat COVID-19.
