Moderna’s mRNA dreams meet reality with first post-Covid shot
Moderna Inc.’s pioneering Covid shot turned the company into a nearly $200 billion biotech giant and a public health hero. Its second vaccine, meant to prevent a common respiratory virus, is calling into question the premise on which the company has staked its entire business.
The forthcoming RSV shot, expected to get US regulatory approval this month, is Moderna’s first chance to show the versatility of mRNA technology to more effectively treat and prevent a range of illnesses from the flu to cancer. It will be the first mRNA product for something other than Covid.
Yet the vaccine doesn’t clearly perform any better than what’s already on the market. Early signs from clinical trials suggest that Moderna’s shot wears off faster than offerings from GSK Plc and Pfizer Inc. Analysts only expect it to bring in $340 million in revenue this year – less than half of what competitors made off their RSV vaccines last year and a tiny fraction of Moderna’s Covid shot revenue.
Investors have taken notice. Moderna’s stock dropped 45% last year, making it the worst-performing large biotech in the US. It’s also a popular target for short sellers. Moderna Chief Executive Officer Stéphane Bancel swats away the skepticism, portraying a seemingly unshakable belief in what he calls the mRNA “platform.”
