The U.S. government has handed Moderna almost $600 million to accelerate its work on various bird flu vaccines as well as work on mRNA vaccines for other influenza strains with pandemic potential.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS’) Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) has been working with Moderna since 2023 to help develop mRNA vaccines that would be needed to stave off a potential flu pandemic, including from the avian influenza strain H5N1. Last year, the biopharma received $176 million as part of the same initiative.