Moderna's quarterly sales soar over 400% on COVID vaccine developments
Surprise quintuplets... Moderna smashed sales expectations for its 2nd quarter, bringing in 5X more than it did during last year's Q2. Moderna is the biotech startup that wants to hack COVID with mRNA. Unlike OG vaccines (which use a weakened virus), mRNA ones teach cells to destroy the virus. No mRNA vax has ever been approved for human use, but that hasn't stopped funding from pouring in:
- $955M: What Moderna has received from the US government to support its vaccine development (and secure doses for Americans).
- $66M: Moderna's sales for the quarter, up 407%. Those extra sales came from collaborations and grants related to COVID vaccine development.
- $29B: Moderna's market value, despite never having sold a product. Its COVID vaccine is already in the final phase of testing, making it a vax race leader.
It's the COVID vax premium... The US government has handed out over $6B to companies working on vaccines, while the stocks of these companies have soared. This outpouring of cash and interest isn't surprising, given that: a vaccine would solve the worst global crisis since WWII.
- Novavax stock soared 16% yesterday on promising results from its early-stage vax trial.
- Johnson & Johnson just announced a $1B+ deal to make 100M vaccine doses for the US gov.
Preparation is key... because 8B people can't be vaccinated overnight. Vaccines usually take 6+ years to greenlight. But given the severity of this situation, we could have one approved this year. The surging stock market seems prepared, but it's not clear if governments are. Lawmakers and companies need to work out the thorny issue of how the vaccine is distributed. Organized planning is key to avoiding the resource allocation mess we had at the beginning of the pandemic.