 This vaccine would not exist without NIH's partnership and expertise and the substantial investment of the taxpayers of this country. As a matter of public record, U.S. taxpayers spent $12 billion on the research development and procurement of the NIH Moderna COVID vaccine. And here is the thank you that the taxpayers of this country received from Moderna for that huge investment. They are thanking the taxpayers of the United States by proposing to quadruple the price of the COVID vaccine to as much as $130 once the government stockpile runs out. At a time when it costs less than $3 to manufacture the vaccine, $3 to manufacture it $130 on the market. What this means is that Moderna will be charging Medicare, Medicaid, the VA, the Department of Defense, the Indian Health Service and insurance plans, private insurance plans on the Affordable Care Act, billions of dollars more for the COVID vaccine. So all of us who are concerned about the deficit, the national debt, billions more goes to Moderna. Meanwhile, Moderna has already made $21 billion in profits off the COVID vaccine during the pandemic. And four of Moderna's executives and investors collectively became more than $10 billion wealthier as a result of the massive taxpayer investment into that corporation. As soon as Moderna started to receive billions of dollars from the federal government, Mr. Bancel literally became a billionaire overnight and is now worth over $4 billion. He was also able to secure a golden powershoot for himself worth another $926 million after he leaves the company. But let's be clear, Mr. Bancel is not alone. One of Moderna's co-founders, Nubah Afayan, is now worth $1.8 billion. Another co-founder, Mr. Langer, is now worth $1.7 billion. And one of the founding investors in Moderna, Tim Springer, is now worth $2.2 billion. None of these four individuals were billionaires before the taxpayers of our country funded the COVID-19 vaccine. This type of profiteering and excessive CEO compensation is exactly what the American people, whether they're Republicans, Democrats or independents, are sick and tired of. You just listened to Senator Bernie Sanders eloquently explain how after we, the taxpayers helped fund the development of Moderna's life-saving COVID-19 vaccines. Well, the things that we get is a slap in the face in the form of a massive, massive price increase. Yeah. But why? Why would they do this? Well, the news of this price hike coincides with a decreased demand for the COVID-19 vaccines. As Reuters reports, Moderna in February forecasted significantly declining 2023 COVID-19 vaccine sales, which reached $18.4 billion in 2022. Demand for the shots has declined sharply this year due to built-up product inventories around the world and increased population immunity from high rates of vaccination and previous infections. So in other words, lower demand leads to fewer vaccine purchases, which then leads to lower profits. So how do you maintain profitability given this change in demand? Well, you simply jack up the price and that is exactly what Moderna did. Now, to put their greed into context, we're going to watch a quick clip from More Perfect Union that explains how this company was pretty brazen in prioritizing profits over the lives of people. The major breakthroughs behind the NIH Moderna vaccine from the invention of the stabilized spike protein to the underlying mRNA vaccine technology were all funded by the U.S. government heavily. Moderna has benefited immensely from the public sector, receiving funding from the federal government reportedly since it only had three employees. The private sector often succeeds at profiting astronomically off of publicly funded innovation because the public sector gives away technology and funding without asking anything in return. The federal government just hands the stuff out. They're the most one-sided contracts I've ever seen. And what have the results of exclusive corporate control been? To start, Moderna wildly overcharged countries for the vaccine and initially sold doses almost exclusively to rich countries, frustrating the Biden administration and hurting efforts to stop the global pandemic. Moderna also refused to share the vaccine recipe with South African scientists working with the World Health Organization to scale up global production. And now, Moderna is raising prices. The former head of the CDC, Dr. Tom Frieden, said it best, they are behaving as if they have absolutely no responsibility beyond maximizing the return on investment. So they used taxpayer money to develop the COVID-19 vaccine, and then they initially only sold them to rich countries and then subsequently refused to give the recipe to developing countries because they wanted to be the only ones to exclusively profit off of this vaccine. And now they're price gouging us. This is why Bernie Sanders was so angry during this hearing. This is corporate greed in its purest form. So we're going to watch the next clip where Bernie Sanders grills him, and this was very, very satisfying because very clearly, there's no good excuse for this company's behavior. Some of us have a hard time understanding how a company that made $21 billion in profit, a company that enabled you and your associates to become multi-billionaires, has a company that would not have developed this vaccine without the help of the taxpayers of this country. Now comes before the public and says, oh, by the way, we want to quadruple prices, which will mean that the deficit goes up or taxes go up because of the increased expense that Medicare and Medicaid and VA have to pay. I concur with Senator Lujan about that issue. I want to ask you earlier in response to Senator Smith, you talked about negotiating prices. Am I hearing from you that in fact you are prepared not to charge $130 for a vaccine to the U.S. government but less than that? Is that what I hear? What I'm saying, Mr. Chairman, is there's a lease price. It depends if it's a single-bose product or pre-fills-arranged product. There's a lease price around $130, and then with different customers there are going to be discussions. But you know, that's an issue that many have raised. We have no transparency in pricing. It is a totally insane situation. Everybody pays a different price. The United States government helped you develop that vaccine. It is a huge consumer. Are you prepared to substantially charge less for the vaccine to the United States government and our agencies? Given the situation at hand, Mr. Chairman, we have no idea of the volume that we needed this year. We have very increased complexity. You have complexity, but you have money for stock buybacks by the billions, and you guys became billionaires. That doesn't seem too complex to me. Let me ask you this question at least. The United States pays the people in our country pay the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs in general, something this committee will work on. Will you at least tell us today that the price you are charging for the vaccine will be lower than what other countries around the world are paying, or once again we're going to pay the highest prices? So Mr. Chairman, the price will depend on the value in each country. The cost of healthcare is different in each country. That's not the answer. That's a whole art. I'm asking you a simple question. Your vaccine was developed with the help of the United States government. I'm asking you whether or not we're going to continue to pay the highest prices in the world for that vaccine. I understand everything is complex, but I also understand you have money for stock buybacks and exorbitant compensation packages for yourself. Will you at least tell the taxpayers of this country that the price we pay for the vaccine will be less than other countries? Shameless. Just absolutely shameless. And what's funny is that he had the audacity to make it seem as if he was doing us a favor by waiting to raise the price until now. So at one point during the testimony he said this, quote, the way we think about the price during the pandemic was actually a discount, he said. Jesus Christ. We're talking here today about an increase in price. If you think about what happens in any other industry, when you get a very large volume, you get a very big discount. That's actually what we did with 500 million orders from the US government. This year if we get 30 million or 50 million, that would be great. What a fucking weasel this guy is. In other words, if you want a discount, you have to buy in bulk despite demand. And if the vaccines go bad, they go bad. Because you see when you buy in bulk, when it comes to products in other industries, this is how you get a discount. The problem is we're not talking about other products in other industries. We're not talking about M&M's. We're not talking about PS5's. We're talking about a lifesaving vaccine that you would not have been able to develop without the NIH and taxpayer funding. But to him, the true value of the COVID-19 vaccine, it isn't measured by how many lives it can save or the good that it does overall around the globe. The value to him is derived exclusively from how much money it enables him and his company to make. And Bernie Sanders pointed this out. You know, when you talk about value, it's an interesting philosophical concept. In your judgment, what does value mean to a woman who lost her husband because the family cannot afford the price, the outrageous price of a prescription drug? Is that a value that we should consider or is it only, is that a value that we should consider? We believe in access, Mr. Chairman. And as I said, our products, we're going to work really hard for the uninsured that they are available for no cost. And I understand. I may be asking you a broader question than just maternal. Senator Markey mentioned Pfizer having a cancer drug for 175,000, I believe is what he said. That's another company. Of course I know that. But I'm asking you a statement. You talk about value and the value is, well, we've helped the economy and we've done all these things true enough. But what about the value of the human lives that are lost or the suffering while companies make billions and people can't afford the price? Is that a value to be considered? Of course, Mr. Chairman, we need to work together, industry and the governments and all the players in the healthcare system to figure out how do we make sure the products are available. I completely agree with you. We work hard to make medicine and to do science to help people. So I agree with you. Well, you raised an interesting question. Okay. That's, and Senator Cassidy, you know, Senator Romney talked about it. Now, tell me this. And this is kind of a value issue that I think we should really get into as a nation. Jonas Salk, you're familiar with Jonas Salk, invented polio, did not make billions for his invention. In fact, he gave it away. And he said, I'm so proud to have created this vaccine to save lives. Alexander Fleming developed penicillin, a huge advance for medicine saved millions of lives. Frederick Vanting sold his intellectual property for $1 for insulin. All right. What do you think about those guys and those scientists who said, you know what, our function in life is to create wonderful drugs that will ease human suffering and save lives, not to become excessively rich. Do you think they were crazy? I think what they did was very noble. I think what we have to do is to invest in the technology. If we didn't have a technology when the pandemic happened, there would have been no more than a vaccine, Mr. Chairman. Look, we all agree that we need the technology, but what I am asking you and some of my friends here are saying is that the only thing that motivates you is to become a billionaire. All right. But can we have a science where people get paid? Well, I have no problem with Madonna making money. But you're hearing here, massive cash, paybacks, you becoming a multi-billionaire. Should we develop a counterculture, perhaps, which says your motive is not just making billions, but developing all of the drugs we need for the terrible diseases that this world faces. And that's what we are doing, Mr. Chairman. That's why Madonna is a different company. Our number one investment this year is in R&D. As I mentioned, $4.5 billion. How much do you provide stock buybacks? We have not decided yet as a board. The number of a stock buyback that's still open is $2.8 billion, I think. Our number one priority is R&D. If we could invest more in R&D, we would. The challenge we have is face-free studies takes time to happen, Mr. Chairman. The last line there was so telling. He said that Madonna's number one priority is research and development, which is why that's their highest cost. But when Bernie Sanders asked him how much they paid in stock buybacks, what did he say? $2.9 billion. That's billion with a B. So if innovation really was their number one priority, why not take that additional $2.9 billion that you spent on stock buybacks and put that towards research and development? Because he's full of shit. So this is what happens when you commodify healthcare. This is why healthcare should not be a private profit making thing. The goal of pharmaceutical companies should be developing drugs that help people and save lives. But under our perverted capitalist system, they have an incentive to make maximizing profits their number one goal. This is why more states need to follow California's lead and start manufacturing their own drugs. And the federal government needs to remove the profit motives from these companies by nationalizing them. That way they turn them exclusively into public services for the people who fund them. And they don't have to worry about profits because the goal ultimately is to provide a public service to the American people. But we'll leave that there. I think that Bernie Sanders grilling him was absolutely satisfying. And if you agree, hit that like button.