Moderna Refuses to Deliver COVID Vaccine Recipe to China

Moderna has refused to grant China the intellectual property rights necessary for developing the COVID-19 vaccine, leading to the collapse of negotiations for selling the vaccine there. The Financial Times reported, citing individuals involved in negotiations that took place between 2020 and 2021, that the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based pharmaceutical company declined China's request for the vaccine formula due to commercial concerns and safety issues. The company stated it remains "eager" to sell the vaccine to China but has "abandoned" previous efforts to enter the Chinese market due to China's requirement for the transfer of vaccine technology as a precondition for sales in the country. China relies on several domestically developed vaccines and has not approved any foreign COVID-19 vaccines.