Riding high on Spikevax sales, Moderna closed out 2022 with strong financials and a plan to invest heavily into R&D in 2023.
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Riding high on Spikevax sales, Moderna closed out 2022 with strong financials and a plan to invest heavily in R&D in 2023.
While the pandemic proved profitable for the company, Moderna now faces a steep drop-off this year for its COVID-19 vaccines and therapeutics. The biotech predicts $5 billion in 2023 sales for its coronavirus vaccine - a 73% drop from last year.
Full year revenues for 2022 peaked at $19.3 billion, a modest increase from $18.5 billion in 2021, and a massive uptick from 2020 revenue of $803 million. Spikevax alone brought in $18.4 billion last year for the pharma.
Determined to maintain its profitability, Moderna is shifting its focus to R&D. Stéphane Bancel, CEO, said $4.5 billion is allotted for investments, and the company is speeding things up by tapping partners with platforms complimentary to its own.
Wednesday, Moderna announced a collaboration with next-gen gene editor Life Edit Therapeutics, owned by ElevateBio. While the companies are keeping targets behind closed doors for now, ElevateBio CEO David Hallal told BioSpace Moderna was particularly interested in its base editing capabilities for in vivo targets in the liver.
Moderna’s partnership with Merck is moving forward with a Breakthrough Therapy tag from the FDA. The company’s personalized mRNA cancer vaccine is being used in combo with Merck’s blockbuster Keytruda for patients with high-risk melanoma following complete resection.
Moderna added $250 million from the bank in October when Merck made the call to move forward with the collaboration. All costs and profits going forward will be split equally.
A Phase III study is already slated for the mRNA/Keytruda combo for this year with “rapid” expansion plans to add more tumor types, including non-small cell lung cancer.
“We are investing to scale Phase III manufacturing for personalized cancer vaccines so that we can run several Phase III studies simultaneously,” Bancel stated in the press release.
Moderna further entrenched its commitment to oncology when it made a $35 million investment into CtyomX in January. The two will work together on conditionally activated mRNA therapies for cancer.
The biotech is also working on a slew of other mRNA vaccines, including for the seasonal flu, RSV (also granted Breakthrough Therapy designation) and other infectious diseases. Additional pipeline assets include treatments for an organic acid disorder, heart failure and an inhaled cystic fibrosis therapy with partner Vertex.
