1 July 2020 - A new report finds that the U.S. government awarded several drug makers contracts for coronavirus research using agreements that would allow authorities to bypass laws that could ensure taxpayer-funded medicines or vaccines are affordable.
In recent months, the Department of Defense and the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority signed or extended contracts with four companies — the Janssen unit at Johnson & Johnson, the Genentech unit at Roche, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, and Ology Bioservices — for research on either COVID-19 vaccines or medicines.