In collaboration with Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA), a biotech company, the University of Texas has been awarded a contract from the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD)) for up to $25 million to develop vaccinations against biological threats like Ebola.

According to the terms of the three-year contract, the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) would receive $13.5 million from the DoD for the creation of filovirus vaccines that will be used in a Phase 1 study to combat the Edo (EBOV), Sudan (SUDV), Marburg (MARV), and Lassa (LASV) viruses.

In order to design, create, and test the vaccine candidates, UTMB will work with Moderna (MRNA) and their messenger RNA platform. If alternatives are used for other activities, such as different immunization routes, the project also provides up to $11.1 million in additional financing.

Filovirus outbreaks are caused primarily in Central and West Sub-Saharan Africa by EBOV, SUDV, and MARV. There isn’t a vaccine for Ebola that has been licensed as of yet.

Moderna Stock Forecast

Moderna stock went up in October as word spread of an expected deal with the US to make vaccines based on messenger RNA to fight biological threats like Ebola.

Bernie Sanders Cautions Moderna About Pricing Increases

In a letter to Moderna Inc. this week, U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders urged the pharmaceutical company to postpone planned price increases in the United States for its COVID-19 vaccination because they might make the shot expensive for millions of Americans.

After the U.S. government contributed roughly $1.7 billion to finance the vaccine’s development, Sanders wrote in his letter that boosting pricing would be particularly heinous. Moderna’s CEO, Stephane Bancel, was the recipient of the letter.

Sanders, who will soon take over as chairman of the Senate’s Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, wrote: “You intend to make the vaccination costly for the citizens of this country who made the manufacture of the vaccine possible.” “That is not appropriate.”

Moderna hasn’t decided on a price yet, but Bancel has said that, given the value of the shots, a price range of $110 to $130 per dose for the vaccine is reasonable once the US moves to a commercial market.

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