Moderna to make milestone payments to NIH for COVID vaccine

(Reuters) – Moderna Inc will make certain contingent development, commercial and regulatory milestone payments to the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) related to the development of COVID-19 vaccines, the company said in a filing on Friday.

Moderna and the U.S. government agency had entered into a license agreement in December related to certain patents concerning the COVID vaccine products, the filing showed.

The vaccine maker first disclosed the deal in its fourth-quarter earnings release stating it missed profit estimates hurt by the royalty payment to NIH.

Moderna said under the agreement it would pay low single-digit royalties on future net sales and also minimum annual royalties.

(Reporting by Khushi Mandowara in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)

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