U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders Urges President Trump To Disallow Army To Exclusively License Experimental Zika Vaccine To Sanofi Without Guarantee Of Fair Pricing

The Hill: Sanders: Trump must stop French company’s exclusive Zika vaccine deal
“Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is pressuring President Trump to stop the Army from giving a French company the exclusive license to a vaccine against the Zika virus. In a New York Times op-ed published Saturday, Sanders criticized French pharmaceutical company Sanofi, noting the firm has already gotten $43 million from the Department of Health and Human Services to develop a vaccine with the Army and is expected to receive $130 million more in federal funding. ‘If Mr. Trump allows this deal, Sanofi will be able to charge whatever astronomical price it wants for its vaccine,’ Sanders wrote…” (Smilowitz, 3/11).

The Hill: Chelsea Clinton praises Sanders for Zika op-ed
“Former first daughter Chelsea Clinton on Saturday praised Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) for his op-ed pressuring President Trump to stop the Army from giving a French company an exclusive license to a Zika virus vaccine. ‘Thank you Sen. Sanders — we need to ensure equitable access to the Zika vaccine & all vaccines,’ Clinton tweeted alongside his op-ed…” (Seipel, 3/11).

Washington Examiner: Sanders slams Zika vaccine deal
“…[Sanders] was worried that Sanofi could gouge ‘American consumers, Medicare and Medicaid, or our military when it sells the vaccine.’ … 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’…” (King, 3/11).

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