The Department of Health and Human Services is terminating around $500 million in BARDA contracts associated with mRNA vaccine development, a move that will affect several pharma companies, including Moderna, Pfizer, Sanofi and AstraZeneca.
The Department of Health and Human Services is starting a “coordinated wind-down” of nearly two dozen mRNA vaccine research projects, affecting contracts and applications with the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority that went to several pharma companies, including Pfizer, Sanofi, AstraZeneca and Moderna.
The pullback, announced in an HHS news release on Tuesday, will cover 22 “investments” associated with mRNA vaccine development “because the data show these vaccines fail to protect effectively against upper respiratory infections like COVID and flu,” Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in a prepared statement. Together, these 22 affected projects are collectively worth “nearly $500 million,” according to HHS.
The statement did not offer evidence of the failure of mRNA vaccines to protect against upper respiratory infections. Past research from CDC researchers called Pfizer’s and Moderna’s mRNA-based vaccines “highly effective.
Tuesday’s wind-down effort shuts down or restructures a number of ongoing collaborations. One is between Moderna and the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) with the Department of Defense (DoD). That contract was awarded in January 2023, giving Moderna and UTMB $13.5 million to use the company’s mRNA platform for a filovirus vaccine. The partners are also eligible for up to $11.1 million in option exercise payments.
AstraZeneca, which also has an existing agreement with the DoD, will likewise be affected by the BARDA terminations. A nucleic acid-based collaboration with the DoD will be restructured and HHS’ contributions to the partnership canceled, according to reporting from Fierce Biotech.
HHS is likewise rejecting or cancelling many of its pre-awarded solicitations, including proposals from Pfizer and Sanofi.
“We’re shifting that funding toward safer, broader vaccine platforms that remain effective even as viruses mutate,” Kennedy said in Tuesday’s press announcement. “Let me be absolutely clear: HHS supports safe, effective vaccines for every American who wants them. That’s why we’re moving beyond the limitations of mRNA and investing in better solutions.”
It is not immediately clear what these new alternative vaccine solutions are, though the HHS release on Tuesday named “whole-virus vaccines” as one such platform with “stronger safety records and transparent clinical and manufacturing data practices.”
Under Kennedy’s leadership, the HHS has become notably critical of mRNA vaccine technology. In June, for instance, the Secretary emptied the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) and reformed it with eight new members, at least one of whom has previously spoken out against the mRNA platform.
Speaking to BioSpace in June, former ACIP member Paul Offit said that Robert Malone, whom Kennedy placed on the committee, “has testified in front of Congress that the mRNA vaccines cause cancer and heart disease and autoimmune disease, even though it doesn’t.”
