Moderna is chewing over a nearly five-fold price increase for its COVID-19 vaccine as the company prepares to roll the jabs out to commercial buyers, and is considering a number between $110 and $130, according to reports. In interviews at the JPMorgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco on Monday, chief executive Stephane Bancel said the range seemed “reasonable given the value being created by the vaccines,” The Boston Globereported. The estimate matches that given in October by rival drugmaker Pfizer, which is similarly gearing up to shift from government to commercial distribution. Pfizer said at the time that the earliest it would be prepared to put its vaccine on the commercial market would be early this year, depending on factors such as the length of its contracts with the federal government, as well as the longevity of the current U.S. supply. Moderna’s government contracts, according to The Wall Street Journal, price the jab significantly lower, with booster shots costing roughly $26 per dose. Earlier supply contracts pegged the original vaccine at no more than $16 per dose, the Journal reported.
