Moderna has insisted that Covid-19 booster shots will be necessary even after reporting that the efficacy of its vaccine remains at 93 per cent six months after a second dose.
Shares in the American biotechnology group hit fresh highs after it published data that suggested the efficacy of its jab compared favourably with that of a rival. Moderna’s six-month efficacy fell only marginally from a previous trial that put it at 94 per cent. In contrast, Pfizer and BioNTech said last week that their vaccine’s efficacy slipped to about 84 per cent six months after a second dose.
Based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Moderna was founded in 2010. The company has about 1,000 staff. Its market value stands at $174 billion after its shares almost quadrupled this year during the widespread rollout of vaccination programmes. They initially rallied yesterday before slipping to close down 0.67 per cent, or $2.79, at $416.26.
As it aims to produce between 800 million and a billion doses of its jab this year, Moderna is no longer taking new orders for delivery before 2022. Stéphane Bancel, its chief executive, said that it was “capacity-constrained” for 2021.
The group, which has signed vaccine contracts worth $20 billion in sales this year, has contracts worth about $12 billion for 2022, when it expects to manufacture between two billion and three billion doses. “I am proud of the progress our teams at Moderna have made in the past quarter in advancing our development pipeline,” Bancel, 49, said. “We now have mRNA candidates in clinical trials across five areas, including infectious diseases, cardiovascular, oncology, rare disease and autoimmune disorders. We are pleased that our Covid-19 vaccine is showing durable efficacy of 93 per cent through six months, but recognise that the Delta variant is a significant new threat.”
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The company unveiled second-quarter sales of $4.4 billion, slightly above expectations of $4.2 billion, and earnings of $2.78 billion. Its sales were only $67 million a year earlier, when it generated a net loss of $117 million.
Public health officials around the world continue to scrutinise whether additional doses of vaccines will be effective or necessary.
