Government Cancels $700 Million in Funding for Moderna’s Bird Flu Biologic
The U.S. government has cancelled a contract worth over $700 million awarded to Moderna, Inc. for late-stage development of an mRNA bird flu biologic for humans, as well as the right to purchase the shots. Earlier this year, the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) issued the […]
USDA Gives Conditional License for Bird Flu Vaccine Given to Chickens
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has issued a conditional license approval for an inactivated avian flu (bird flu) vaccine to be administered to chickens eaten by Americans. The license is being granted due to H5N1 influenza virus infections spreading in U.S. poultry. The United States has avoided giving H5N1 vaccine to until now. The […]
U.S. Stockpiles Two Bird Flu Vaccines
U.S. government health officials announced earlier this month that two bird flu vaccines are being stockpiled and will be available for shipment within weeks. They said that the bird flu stockpiling is part of their emergency preparations in the event the H5N1 virus, which now primarily infects wild birds, chickens and sometimes cows and other […]
Developers of mRNA COVID Shots Spar Over Intellectual Property Rights
Pfizer and BioNTech will have to answer in court to legal claims by Moderna that they copied its innovative messenger RNA (mRNA) technology in the making of their COVID-19 biologic, Comirnaty. The patent infringement lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts and the Regional Court of Dusseldorf in Germany alleges that […]
CureVac’s COVID-19 Vaccine Produces Grade 3 Adverse Events
Biopharmaceutical company CureVac NV of Tübingen, Germany has released the interim results of its Phase 1 clinical trial on its experimental CVnCoV vaccine COVID-19. The vaccine, which was given to more than 250 healthy adults 18 to 60 years of age, is based on messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) technology.1 2 Unlike traditional vaccines, mRNA vaccines […]
Fauci Says Rushing COVID-19 Vaccine is Risky
During a remote online testimony before the U.S. Senate’s Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee on May 12, 2020, Anthony Fauci, MD warned that moving forward too quickly with the development of a vaccine for COVID-19 may produce a vaccine that could make the disease worse.1 2 Dr. Fauci, who is the director of the […]