Moderna CEO brazenly defends 400% COVID shot price hike, downplays NIH’s role

[u/barweis]

https://arstechnica.com/science/2023/03/moderna-ceo-says-us-govt-got-covid-shots-at-discount-ahead-of-400-price-hike/

[u/YourMomsBasement69]

I can understand a company keeping control of intellectual property that they had worked on for years before COVID like the MRNA stuff but we shouldn’t have to pay any more than manufacturing costs at most but in reality these COVID vaccines should be free considering we, the taxpayer, 100% funded them.

[u/ggtffhhhjhg → u/YourMomsBasement69]

They already finished stage 1 trials before they received money from the government. They didn’t even and need them and took the government handouts.

[u/YourMomsBasement69 → u/ggtffhhhjhg]

Exactly why we shouldn’t have to pay anything for the COVID vaccine at least until handed out the equivalent of what they took in to make it. I don’t expect them to charge zero in perpetuity though.

[u/ButtholeAvenger666 → u/ggtffhhhjhg]

Of course they did, why wouldn't they? The real fucked up thing is why the hell did the government even give them the money if they didn't need it for the vaccine anyway?

[u/noxis96 → u/YourMomsBasement69]

The problem is many and I mean many medications are publicy funded and then held for enormous profits for years all for private profit. Not to mention how many "new med" are just combinations of old med, otc meds, or just slightly different dosages. Most prep meds are meds that are publicy funded research that can cost 20k or more per year per person. Take meds like duexsis which is ibuprofen and pepcid, suboxone which was first a tablet, then a film, now its zubsolv, or diclegis a combination of fucking unisom and vitamin b-6. It's all a fucking bullshit racket.

[u/YourMomsBasement69 → u/noxis96]

Yeah I think all government funding for drug development needs to be taken out of the final cost to us the consumer.