MPs to Study $300 Million Government Payment to Failed COVID-19 Vaccine Company

Tory MP Stephen Ellis says Ottawa paid over $300 million to Quebec-based Medicago, a defunct company whose COVID-19 vaccine never made it to the market.

A vial of a plant-derived COVID-19 vaccine candidate, developed by Medicago, is shown in Quebec City on July 13, 2020. The Canadian Press/HO, Medicago

MPs on the House of Commons health committee are launching a study into the more than $300 million the federal government paid to Quebec-based Medicago, a defunct company whose COVID-19 vaccine never made it to market.

“Three hundred million dollars of taxpayer money was wasted and was hidden deep in a document,” Conservative MP Stephen Ellis told the committee Nov. 8.