One of the main objections to march-in rights and reasonable pricing clauses is the repeated assertion by NIH leadership that pharmaceutical companies would never agree to a partnership with the federal government that involves price constraints. This argument defies logic… Continue Reading
The contract awarding Sanofi Pasteur (“Sanofi”) 1.8 billion U.S. taxpayers’ dollars for the development and manufacture of a COVID-19 vaccine was posted in the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Electronic Reading Room on November 30, 2020. Overall, the… Continue Reading
On November 7, 2020, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) posted another COVID-19 vaccine contract: the $1 billion agreement between Janssen Pharmaceutical (a component of Johnson & Johnson (“J&J”)) and the U.S. government (through an intermediary called Advanced… Continue Reading
On November 5, 2020, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals published a redacted version of the contract awarding the company $450 million taxpayers’ dollars for the large-scale manufacture of Regeneron’s investigational COVID-19 antibody treatment. The contract uses Other Transactions Authority to weaken the U.S.… Continue Reading
Regeneron Pharmaceutical recently applied for Emergency Use Authorization of its investigational COVID-19 treatment, REGN-COV2, after Donald Trump said that it cured him of COVID-19, suggesting that Regeneron expects to cash in on the treatment. Taxpayers, however, are funding 80 percent… Continue Reading
(More on Moderna here: https://www.keionline.org/moderna) On August 5, 2020, BARDA Acting Director Gary Disbrow sent KEI and Public Citizen a letter (PDF copy) responding to KEI and Public Citizen’s joint letter outlining how Moderna failed to honor a term of… Continue Reading
(More on Moderna here: https://www.keionline.org/moderna) On July 31, 2020, Knowledge Ecology International and Public Citizen sent Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) a letter asking BARDA to enforce a term of Moderna’s billion dollar contract with BARDA to develop… Continue Reading
A House coronavirus stimulus bill contains a provision concerning the use of Other Transactions Authority to fund COVID-19 diagnostics. The provision appears to authorize the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to award $2.2 billion to private sector companies to develop… Continue Reading
For more on KEI’s work on COVID-19, see keonline.org/coronavirus. Global health emergencies such as the COVID-19 pandemic call upon us to answer to the better angels of our nature. Not all are heeding that call. Instead of cooperation and selflessness,… Continue Reading
(UPDATE: As noted in the comments below, the NIH provided a response to the joint comments submitted on September 5, 2019, well in advance of the close of the comment period on September 15, 2019) On September 19, 2019, Knowledge… Continue Reading