Investing.com -- Shares in Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) rose in early U.S. trading on Tuesday after the Financial Times reported that the European Union is in talks with the U.S. drugmaker over a new COVID-19 vaccine procurement deal.
Citing two unnamed sources familiar with the matter, the newspaper said that EU member states would be able to individually confirm their interest in a supply agreement with Massachusetts-based Moderna.
At least eight countries have expressed an interest in such a deal, one of the people told the FT, adding that the contract would specifically pertain to messenger ribonucleic acid-based COVID jabs.
Under the terms of the contract, the provision of the vaccines would be secured until 2026, the FT quoted the person as saying. Discussions are placing the price per jab at around €25 a dose, one of the people told the FT, although the figure has yet to be finalized.
Moderna flagged that "time is of the essence" for Brussels to ensure it has a diversified supply of COVID shots to address highly mutated subvariants of the currently-dominant Omicron strain as winter approaches, the FT said.
The EU Commission and the Health Emergency and Response Authority did not immediately respond to the paper's requests for comment.