@rbreich I totally agree with you about the disparity between cost to make versus the sale price. That being said, I am curious how much the research of the vaccine cost Moderna.

@rbreich It’s what a government owned and operated by greed and greedy corporations looks like. Until we get REAL campaign finance reform, nothing will change.

@rbreich Maybe they’re trying to turn their vaccines into Veblen goods.

@rbreich
And we all thought they were humanitarians. Ha!

@rbreich Curious what the pandemic will look like going forward as they restrict supply on vaccine availability through price. A lot of healtchare systems are struggling as it is.

@rbreich
yet the media will keep saying it's inflation, when the cost of everyday goods is driven by corporate greed.

@rbreich

And that is how you keep a pandemic going indefinitely. May their board reap what they sow.

@rbreich this the American Dream-yes you can ‘make it’ but that will undoubtedly be at the expense of others

@rbreich let’s make a nasty virus, release it and sell the vaccines, makes sense

@rbreich "but the vaccine only costs $2.85 to make."

But they spent a bit of money on R&D to come up with the vaccine.

It takes a second to cut with a scalpel, but twelve years to become a surgeon

@rbreich how much did Moderna take from the U.S. government? If they took any $ then the deal should have been structured to give the money back plus adequate returns.

@rbreich

This is capitalism in action.
This is why the world is burning down while poverty spreads like a terminal cancer

@rbreich
To be a little bit fair they have to account for the R&D for all the drugs that flop and end up losers. They have to have make up for that, pay their overhead and still turn a profit. Obviously greed/ profit motive is there, they’re not a charity, but without such big rewards companies won’t risk the billions needed to create such complex vaccines in the first place. Don’t know what a fair price should be for the risk. Too low & companies won’t enter the market & no vax.

@rbreich after a quick Google search, Moderna took a cool $1 billion in research funding. Then the U.S. paid to get hundreds of millions doses. I can think of umpteen structures for the benefit of the taxpayers.

@rbreich

Here we go again.

😡

@rbreich How much was the research?

@rbreich
But...but...inflation ...

@rbreich
#CorporateGreed

@rbreich No, this is what lack of competition looks like. We shouldn’t shame companies for being greedy: that’s just the way they work. We should rather shame our governments for not having good enough competition policies.

@rbreich

Genuine question: Were are those numbers from? (I am with you all the way, I would just like to have a source.)

@rbreich I got my Moderna booster free back in September, everyone should get it now while it's free. Stick it the maaaan.

@rbreich In a sense they're not that bad - more competitors have been trying to make COVID vaccines than almost any other medicine. More importantly, we WANT people who save a million American lives to come out of it with a big reward.

That said, we should still push for the competition to stay real. Other countries have other vaccines, but they don't seem to get here. I'd love to try a shot of CanSino's traditional vaccine made against the whole virus, in case of a major receptor mutant.

@rbreich I love how they say it's free to me, but my taxes pay for it. 🙂

@rbreich The solution is for the federal governments of the world to finance research into life-saving drugs, then that government will push the drug into generic. President #Biden needs to do this YESTERDAY! Thanks to President #Clinton who worked as a doormat to big pharma is one of the reasons why we are in this mess today.

@rbreich We all know it and see it but somehow we keep electing governments that are part of the same problem. We can’t solve this within the same system that created to problem to begin with. #RealChangeNow

@rbreich si basiclly it'll be if you can't afford insurance, you'll never again be able to get the vaccine.

@rbreich

This is what government corruption looks like.

It's just harder to say if you identify with the party in power that's doing it.

@rbreich
They're charging Medicare $100, but probably not getting that much.

@rbreich Initially, I read that as "Madonna is planning..." 🤣 Individual greed. 🤓

@rbreich And the US govt gave Moderna about $2.5 billion for the development of the vaccine, the vast majority of the total investment.

That is what #capitalism looks like. Its not greed. Its the whole system.

@rbreich What's your source? Please profide proof of said price increase.

@rbreich Imagine how much pharmaceutical companies could save, if they didn't spend so much on lobbyists and marketing directly to consumers?

@rbreich sickening....

@rbreich This is what capitalism looks like.

@rbreich Can we stop calling it 'corporate greed' and start calling it 'literally the thing that businesses are incentivized to do at every possible turn?'

The problem isn't greedy corporations; those are just a symptom. The problem is capitalism.

@rbreich
Late Stage Capitalism: “Let us extract monopoly rents or die.”

@rbreich
And the reason #Congress hasn't done something about #COVIDprofiteers is ALSO greed... for corporate donations to BOTH parties
#Corporatepersonhood is killing democracy & human beings

@rbreich Unfortunately, that’s pretty much par for the course. See also, Jazz Pharma, Xyrem, and the fact that Express Scripts patented what amounts to mail order pharmacy in association with Jazz and their exclusive distribution rights.

@rbreich I would mention that it did take decades to develop mRNA vaccines, except that the 19 billion paid for that over and over and over.

This is highway robbery.

@rbreich So so depressing. Everywhere you look it’s corporate greed.

@rbreich
And developed with taxpayer support…

@rbreich so it's a Gordon Gekko company.

@rbreich Mmm, capitalism.

@rbreich No end to the assholery out there😤

@rbreich @medbunker @DavidPuente alzare il costo delle dosi a 130$ l'una è l'ennesima freccia nell'arco dei no vax.
E personalmente trovo disgustoso e illegittimo che un'azienda possa comportarsi così dopo aver goduto di centinaia di milioni di $ di fondi pubblici.

@rbreich Folks, this is what *unchecked* corporate greed looks like.

Fixed that last sentence for ya

@rbreich there is only one solution to this greed and it is not solved with their medicine.

@rbreich ok, but this includes the cost to distribute and administer. And, presumably, they need to fund further research.

@rbreich
Nationalize the pharmaceutical industry.

@rbreich And Moderna took taxpayers money to develop this vaccine. We need justice.

@rbreich this country blows

@rbreich Per barrel?

@rbreich But they had to pay for the research and development to make it. Oh wait, the federal government paid for that.

@rbreich @aral This is pure evil. They are making the decision to let people die just so they can make money. Corporations this evil should not be allowed to exist and should have their corporate charters revoked.

@rbreich it feels much that short term profit is the most important and that money seldom comes back in proper circulation, just hogged in the pocket of someone with loads of money already, like a million would make a difference for someone who has ten billion.

The solution would be extremely heavy taxation on greedy profit making. But sadly politicians don't see it that way and revolutionaries usually ends up as dictators and benevolent dictators becomes war criminals.

@rbreich To add insult to injury they probably pay less taxes than the average person thanks to the army of corporate tax lawyers.

But don't worry [after millions die because they can't afford the vaccine] executives will donate some of the millions they made to a cause of their liking and history will forgive all their greedy sins

@rbreich why wouldn’t the government just buy the shots at their discount cost and distribute?

@rbreich it's the exact same shit as insulin

@rbreich @frankejames I'm a socialist.. and I'm all up for fair pricing.. but it's a little misleading to say the vaccine manufacturing is only 2 bucks. one need to pay the research, the transportation, put money back in the bank for the next pandemic... so maybe a 40 bucks price tag is a decent price.. but it's not sustainable to do science at cost

@rbreich@masto.ai Maybe there should have been a boycott.

@rbreich capitaist medicine is killing us

@rbreich
It's also regulatory slacking. Moderna got a lot of development money from the government, starting with Defense Department money for SARS and MERS during the Obama administration. That should put them on the hook for price caps.

@rbreich The bright side of this is many people thought process is if it's free, there must be something wrong with it. Perhaps now will get boosted! (I can dream, can't I)?

@rbreich Once the stuff gets in you cannot get it out.

@rbreich wow they're really making a killing huh? What a fun figure of speech in the context of megacorporate allopathy

@rbreich Remind me again why so much public money went into developing these vaccines without the rights to them being made publicly domain?

@rbreich @kdekooter astrazeneca rekende kostprijs en onze oliedomme media speelden het spel mee om dat vaccin weg te krijgen.

In andere landen en continenten is het overigens wel met succes in gezet. #covid #astrazeneca

@rbreich This isn't the first time #Moderna has exhibited this kind of behavior. I worked at one of the trial sites as a coordinator when the executives started unloading their stock mid 2020. Glad I don't have to explain to patients that gave their time/bodies to test the vaccines why this happened. No one has mentioned in this thread that #Pfizer made this move first. I imagine that if the CEO didn't raise the price, the shareholder's board would have quickly found someone who would.

@rbreich sure but you left out how much it cost to develop. It's not zero.

@rbreich you are an imbecile.

@rbreich At that price, people all over the world at the low end of the economic spectrum, will be unable to afford vaccines. They will be at greater risk of death and debilitating illness. $130 is an outrageous cost for a necessary medical intervention that people will need every few months if we are going to “live with Covid”. The ongoing inequity is astounding, cruel and reeks of eugenics.

@rbreich I believe vaccinating only the rich is a proven method in fighting a global pandemic.

@rbreich What about Pfizer? Didn’t they charge a@lot more than Moderna for the first round of COVID vaccines? Now Moderna may need to do some additional research, I suppose.

@rbreich let's see a bit more costing please.
Making one dose would not cost $2.85 if making one _more_ dose costed $2.85 more.

Where, for instance, is that dose made?

@rbreich Nope.

That is what stupid patent laws look like.

Change the patent laws and a free market will fix this.

@rbreich Pharmaceutical patents should be abolished. Or at the very least, vaccine patents should be abolished.

@rbreich You can't expect corporations to act like charities. This shit should be regulated. Heavily. Especially when they receive govt funding.

@rbreich America needs a National Health Service. Without it, I see no viable solution to its vast health inequalities. People are going bankrupt due to ill health. It is incredibly sad. Health treatment should be a basic human right.

@rbreich This is BS and it sickens me.

@rbreich and since taxparer picking up tab, Moderna ripping off Americans even if they don't get the shot. #covid #moderna #vaccines

@rbreich

Uh-huh, and how much did the research for that vaccine cost?

The price combines both fixed and variable costs, so focusing only on the latter is dishonest. Most software, for example, is next to free, but for the cost of development.

You're profiting off the ignorance of your readers.

@rbreich This greed has direct and clear consequences in disabling and killing people around the world. They know it; why I call this greed #EconomicGenocide

@rbreich not to say Moderna does not do corporate greed, but it is misleading to compare production costs with sales price. The lion's share of the costs in pharma occurs in development phase, when thousands of researchers work on products or vaccines, more often than not leading to no marketable product at all. And there is still a little thing called competition. It is allowed for any other company to have their own qualitative vaccine approved and sell it cheaper.

@rbreich How much tax do they pay and to which givt. What charities do they support? Do we know?

@rbreich When will we start holding corporations accountable?

@rbreich don't forget that this is the same company who filed for a patent on their mRA vaccine which FDA challenged because the company received help from federal scientist who actually developed part of the solution.

@rbreich Hard to believe our governments have abdicated responsibility to the extent that this is possible.

@rbreich
That's what you get with the current, horrible patent system. Pharmaceutical company patents every possible way to make a medication and then, they can set whatever price they want because nobody else is legally allowed to produce this medication.

@rbreich

That's expensive enough

Makes me suspicious about their personalised mRNA cancer vaccine (not mentioning a charge)

@rbreich So … generally on your side, and how much did they spend on research? What did it cost to build the production facilities? How to keep the vaccine frozen and ready to distribute? The cost of distribution?

I do not have those numbers. Can you find them and share?

@rbreich it would really help you to take econ 101. inequality is better addressed on the subsidy side than the tax side. just give people money via UBI, and use efficient taxes like Pigovian and land value tax. that you are a college professor and saying something this economically illiterate is staggering.

@rbreich Disgusting and some that really must be addressed asap.

@rbreich what do they want? a windfall profits tax or nationalization?
#expropriate

@rbreich weren’t they heavily subsidized for that development in the first place?

@rbreich Our Insurance will pay of course while they rake in obscene profits.

@rbreich There is a growing chorus of knowledgeable people calling for rescinding EUA of the mRNA vaccines because of the side effects, to include death. Of 25 cases in Germany, 5 cases could rule out all other causes except the vaccine. There are many adverse reactions in the US, to include myocarditis, pericarditis, and blood clotting.

@rbreich
And it shows that our government isn't working to make Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness possible for everyone.

Just the wealthy corporations and oligarchs.

Can you say corruption?