By Patrick Wingrove
(Reuters) -The Trump administration has cancelled a contract awarded to Moderna for the late-stage development of its bird flu vaccine for humans, as well as the right to purchase shots, according to the drugmaker.
Moderna in January was awarded $590 million by the Biden administration to advance the development of its bird flu vaccine, and support the expansion of clinical studies for up to five additional subtypes of pandemic influenza
This was in addition to $176 million awarded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services last year to complete the late-stage development and testing of a pre-pandemic mRNA-based vaccine against the H5N1 avian influenza.
Moderna said it plans to explore alternatives for late-stage development and manufacturing of the vaccine.
The company also announced that it had received positive interim data from a mid-stage trial set up to test the safety and immunogenicity of its bird flu vaccine targeting the H5 avian influenza virus subtype.
(Reporting by Patrick Wingrove; Editing by Sandra Maler)
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