The United States withdraws over $700 million in funding for the Moderna bird flu vaccine

Moderna (MRNA.O) reported on Wednesday that the Trump administration has reversed a contract that was awarded to it, opened a new tab for the late-stage development of its human bird flu vaccine, and granted the authority to purchase injections.

In post-market trade, Moderna’s stock remained unchanged.

The Biden administration granted Moderna $590 million in January to further develop its bird flu vaccine and fund the extension of clinical research for up to five more pandemic influenza subtypes.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) also awarded $176 million last year to finish testing and developing a pre-pandemic mRNA-based vaccine against the H5N1 avian influenza.

Earlier this year, HHS informed Reuters that it was examining the Biden administration’s vaccine production deals.

“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, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. He also noted that this is the opposite of the strategy Trump used to fight COVID-19 with Operation Warp Speed.

Following a thorough internal investigation, HHS concluded that the study did not meet the safety requirements or scientific criteria needed to continue receiving federal funding, according to a representative for the agency.

Bird flu has spread rapidly among cow herds and poultry flocks during the past year, infecting 70 individuals, the majority of whom are farm workers.

In a television interview earlier this year, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. suggested that poultry farmers should allow the bird flu to spread unchecked through their flocks in order to study chickens that did not contract it. This suggestion has raised concerns about the use of vaccines and prompted criticism from some members of the U.S. Congress.

According to Moderna, it intends to look at other options for the vaccine’s late-stage development and production.

To compensate for declining post-pandemic demand for its COVID vaccination, the business has been relying on income from more recent mRNA vaccines, such as its bird flu vaccine and experimental COVID-flu combination vaccine.

Additionally, Moderna announced on Wednesday that it has obtained encouraging preliminary results from a mid-stage study designed to evaluate the immunogenicity and safety of its bird flu vaccine, which targets the H5 avian influenza virus subtype.