Moderna (MRNA) on Monday revised down its 2025 forecast by $1 billion. Due to weak demand In addition to the latest vaccines, sluggish sales of COVID-19 vaccines are also having an impact.
The company currently projects sales of $1.5 billion to $2 billion in 2025. Moderna’s stock price fell more than 20% in early trading Monday to $33.05 per share on the news. That’s just a fraction of the 2021 COVID-19 high of nearly $450 per share.
CEO Stéphane Bancel made the outlook at JPMorgan’s annual healthcare conference in San Francisco, where he said the company would continue to pursue further cost-cutting strategies in 2024.
As of 11:32:55 a.m. ET. Market open.
“In 2024, we achieved $3 billion to $3.1 billion in product sales, the RSV vaccine was approved, and we continued to adapt our business to the COVID-19 pandemic. At the same time, we achieved cash “We have reduced operating costs by more than 25% compared to previous levels,” Bancel said in a statement. “We plan to reduce costs by an additional $500 million by 2023 and aim to reduce cash costs by $1 billion in 2025. ” he said.
The 2024 winter virus season saw a slowdown in demand for respiratory vaccines, including those against the new coronavirus and RSV (respiratory syncytial virus), which mainly affect children and the elderly. Moderna launched its RSV vaccine last year, following the previously approved vaccines from Pfizer (PFE) and GSK (GSK).
Walgreens’ (WBA) fiscal 2024 results last week also signaled a slowdown in vaccine demand, and other vaccine makers could be hit as well during future earnings cycles. The retail pharmacy giant reported sales of less than 1 million COVID-19 vaccines in fiscal 2024, compared to 4.7 million in the previous year.
Analysts warn that more trouble may lie ahead for once-thriving biotech companies.
In addition to the sales outlook, Leerink Partners analyst Mani Foruhar pointed out that two other products in the company’s pipeline are also not doing well in the near term.
“Given (1) lower fiscal 2024 sales guidance, (2) uncertainty regarding the combination of COVID-19 and influenza, and (3) missed interim CMV effectiveness, we expect the stock price to decline by more than 20%. All represent headwinds to growth prospects.” In 2025, CMV will be the single most at risk of the three. A return to profitability becomes increasingly distant, MRNA’s position becomes further remote, and the risk of future dilutive stock issuances is on the table. “The S&P 500 is becoming increasingly volatile,” Foruher wrote to clients on Monday.
Anjali Khemrani She is a senior health reporter for Yahoo Finance, covering all areas of pharmaceuticals, insurance, care services, digital health, PBMs, and health policy and politics. Of course, this also includes GLP-1. Follow Anjalee on social media platform X (Twitter) and LinkedIn Bluesky @AjKhem.
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