Moderna is back at the public trough with another experimental mRNA vaccine, this time targeting the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola. CBC reports that Health Canada has authorized a Phase 1 trial of mRNA-1469 at three Canadian sites involving about 80 adults. Canada has never recorded a single Ebola case, and its government admits the risk to the general population is low, yet healthy Canadians will supply the human data for a product intended primarily for a third-world African nation.
As of August 1, there were 3,748 confirmed cases and 1,657 deaths in the Democratic Republic of Congo. There is no approved vaccine specifically targeting Bundibugyo Ebola, but Moderna is not financing this humanitarian venture alone. The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations has pledged up to $50 million for preclinical research, Phase 1 testing, and manufacturing doses before the early trial is even complete.
This is public risk and private reward dressed up as charity. If the product fails, outside funding absorbs much of the loss. If it succeeds, Moderna gains another proprietary vaccine and governments or international organizations will purchase the doses. Moderna promises to make at least 500,000 doses available to poorer countries at “access pricing,” but it has not told the public what that price will be, or who will ultimately pay the bill.
COVID was perhaps the most profitable virus in pharmaceutical history. Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech were once projected to generate between $93.2 billion and $124 billion in combined vaccine sales during 2022. Taxpayers helped finance development, governments guaranteed purchases, mandates manufactured customers, and Big Tech silenced those who questioned the arrangement. The corporations kept the profits while politicians treated the population like an obedient herd.
Moderna now needs another blockbuster because the COVID goldmine could not last forever. The company reported a $782 million second-quarter loss, and its norovirus vaccine recently failed to satisfy the statistical standard for early success in an interim analysis. Its cytomegalovirus vaccine was terminated after missing the primary efficacy endpoint, while the FDA refused to review its mRNA flu-vaccine application because it lacked what the agency considered an adequate and well-controlled study using the proper comparator.
Moderna continues searching for new pathogens that can be converted into permanent revenue streams. It has pursued mRNA products for seasonal flu, bird flu, RSV, norovirus, Epstein-Barr virus, cytomegalovirus, and now Ebola. Some candidates may prove effective and others will fail, but every new emergency offers another opportunity to obtain public money, expand the platform, and create a government-backed market.
If Moderna wants the public to believe this is about saving lives rather than replacing lost COVID revenue, then it should publish every trial result, surrender the liability shield, and permit open scientific criticism. Until then, the same sheep who learned nothing from COVID will line up behind another corporate-government campaign and call their obedience “science,” while Moderna counts the money.