Bernie Sanders is calling on President Trump to not give a French drug maker a monopoly to sell a Zika virus vaccine.
Sanders, in an op-ed, said that Trump promised the American people better deals where the U.S. would “win so much.” However this deal, through the Army, is on the brink of making a bad deal with Sanofi to give them an exclusive license for a Zika vaccine still in development.
“If Mr. Trump allows this deal, Sanofi will be able to charge whatever astronomical price it wants for this vaccine,” the Vermont independent senator said. “Millions of people in the United States and around the world will not be able to afford it even though American taxpayers have already spent more than $1 billion on Zika research and prevention efforts, including millions to develop this vaccine. ”
Sanders noted that the Health and Human Services Department gave Sanofi $43 million to develop the vaccine with the U.S. Army.
He was worried that Sanofi could gouge “American consumers, Medicare and Medicaid or our military when it sells the vaccine.”
Sanders advocated several policies over the years aimed at lowering drug prices. He recently introduced legislation to allow Americans to buy cheaper drugs from Canada. He called on Trump to support the legislation, pointing to several remarks from Trump that he wanted to lower drug prices.
Sanofi said that it was far too early to discuss pricing now for any vaccine.
“Much remains to be done to get to a point where appropriate information is available and reasoned decisions can be made,” the company said. “In addition, pricing is a totally separate issue from the license.”
The Zika virus spread to more than 40 countries, including smaller outbreaks in Miami. The virus spreads via mosquito bites and is linked to severe birth defects.
