The Trump administration has canceled Moderna’s contract to develop the final phase of a bird flu vaccine and has revoked its right to purchase the shots.In January, Moderna was awarded $590 million from the Biden administration to advance development of its bird flu vaccine and for pandemic influenza, including to support the expansion of five additional studies.
Earlier last year, an additional $176 million was provided by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to complete final-stage development and testing of an mRNA-based vaccine against H5N1 avian influenza.
Moderna said it plans to explore options for late-stage development and manufacturing of the vaccine. The company also announced that it received positive interim data from tests to test the safety of its bird flu vaccine targeting the H5 avian influenza virus variant.