COVID-19
Moderna’s stock price plunged more than 20% in Thursday morning trading after the company lowered its 2024 revenue guidance due to weak demand for its coronavirus vaccine in the second quarter.
Second-quarter revenues were better than analysts expected as Merck reported 16% growth for its blockbuster cancer treatment Keytruda, while Pfizer benefited from its ongoing cost-cutting efforts and sales of its COVID-19 antiviral Paxlovid.
GSK on Wednesday restructured its contract with CureVac to gain access to the biotech’s influenza and COVID-19 programs for $430 million upfront and up to $1.13 billion in future payments.
Moderna said Thursday it plans to talk to regulators about the next steps after showing its next-generation candidate is more efficacious in adults than the biotech’s existing Spikevax COVID-19 shot.
Moderna’s combination vaccine candidate for COVID-19 and influenza outperformed licensed vaccines in older adults, according to late-stage results reported on Monday.
While a prolonged, 15-day regimen of Paxlovid is safe, it appears to be ineffective at lowering the symptoms of long COVID, according to results of a Phase II trial funded by Pfizer and conducted by Stanford Medicine.
As BioNTech struggles to establish its footing in a post-pandemic world, the biotech has secured $145 million from the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations to expand its mRNA operations in Rwanda.
The European Patent Office last week upheld one of Moderna’s key patents, handing the biotech an important victory in its protracted COVID-19 vaccine battle with Pfizer and BioNTech.
AstraZeneca announced that it will voluntarily pull Vaxzevria from the global market amid a sharp decline in demand and following the company’s recent admission that its vaccine is linked with a rare side effect.
Reeling from “endemic-level demand” for its COVID-19 vaccine, BioNTech on Monday reported a steep decline in revenues and a loss per share that fell short of analysts’ consensus estimates for the first quarter of 2024.
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