Moderna Inc (NASDAQ: MRNA) has been in focus recently after revealing plans of raising price of its COVID shot by a staggering 400%.
Moderna is facing a patent infringement lawsuit
CEO Stephane Bancel dubs the increase “necessary” since the government funding that’s pivotal to developing the vaccine is now coming to an end. But Tucker Carlson of Fox News questions if there are other factors at play here.
For instance, Moderna is currently facing a lawsuit from Arbutus and Genevant that accuses its COVID jab of patent infringement. According to Carlson:
If Moderna were to be found guilty, the company would have to pay royalties on tens of billions of vaccine sales. So, Moderna is trying to effectively rip off taxpayers by hiking prices. It’s in trouble in this suit.
For the year, Moderna stock is down more than 15% at writing.
Where does the U.S. government fit into this?
Now, we know the government is telling us that the coronavirus is similar to “flu” which is to say that we need to get ourselves vaccinated against it every year.
What’s gone somewhat unnoticed, however, is that the U.S. Attorney David Weiss recently invoked a rather ancient law to make the case that the federal government should be liable to pay if Moderna comes out guilty in the said lawsuit. Carlson added:
Not only did American taxpayers pay to develop the drug, not only did they make the guy who runs the company a billionaire, now you might be on the hook for bailing out Moderna. Wow, is that a scam!
Remember that Moderna had $5.1 billion in revenue in the fourth quarter of 2022.
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