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Large and mid-cap vaccine makers are, as of now, unworried about their 2025 pipelines in the face of research funding declines by the Trump administration and a drop in biotech funding.
That's what some of the top vaccine-maker executives told Yahoo Finance this week at the World Vaccine Congress in Washington, D.C.
These executives believe there will be no impact from the funding cuts and policies coming down from the Trump administration, while others view it as a four-year storm they will just have to weather before being able to carry on as usual afterward.
"We're in this for the long game. We believe in vaccines, in the value of vaccines, and what they bring to public health. Infectious diseases aren't going to go away, so the need for vaccines is going to remain long-term," said Sally Mossman, head of research portfolio strategy at Sanofi (SNY).
Research funding
While large-cap pharma companies can fund most of their research and development internally, they have been known to rely on federal funding for the earliest stages of research via partnerships with research agencies like the National Institutes of Health (NIH). They also partner with smaller biotech companies and academic research centers.
But that dynamic is drastically changing under the Trump administration.
The NIH has already slashed billions in research funding for top universities and cut funding for one mRNA vaccine study and other studies related to vaccine access and hesitancy. (The trickle-up effect on large caps is yet to be determined.) At the same time, funding for biotech — potential partners or acquisition targets for the big players — is also on the decline as investors continue to lose interest in the post-pandemic world.
The view from executives at Pfizer (PFE), Moderna (MRNA), GSK (GSK), Sanofi, and Merck (MRK)? They'll be fine in the long run.
Each company has between a dozen and two dozen vaccine candidates actively being developed and tested in its pipeline. Despite recent announcements of cuts and key leadership departures at the FDA, the companies have not experienced any disruptions in communicating with the FDA about the progress of these vaccines.
GSK global medical lead for vaccines Rafik Bekkat-Berkani said that paying attention to the (short-term) noise was important, but "whether we need to let this noise dictate what we do, the answer is no."
Sanofi's Mossman noted that as the company focuses on the US versus global markets, one goal is always to ensure a return on investment for whatever vaccine is being developed.