Moderna held its 2022 Q1 earnings call this morning announcing $6.1 billion in revenue and robust plans to roll out COVID-19 boosters this fall.
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Moderna held its 2022 Q1 earnings call Wednesday morning announcing $6.1 billion in revenue and robust plans to roll out COVID-19 boosters this coming fall.
Moderna enjoyed $5.9 billion in product sales this quarter, with the majority of these occurring outside of the U.S. The company anticipates that sales will become even larger in the second half of 2022 as it introduces its COVID-19 boosters and SARS-CoV-2 becomes endemic. With its capital, Moderna chiefly plans to reinvest in its 46 research and development programs which include its pipeline vaccine programs for COVID-19 and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and development-stage vaccine programs which include trials in Zika virus and Epstein-Barr virus (EBV).
Notably, Moderna is full speed ahead for COVID-19 boosters despite growing concerns from the scientific community about their relative usefulness. Moderna highlighted that current COVID-19 vaccination schedules wane in efficacy over time and that a fourth dose of the company’s COVID-19 vaccine increased vaccine effectiveness against infection, symptomatic infection and severe outcomes in high-risk populations in Ontario.
“The emergence of new variants of concern like the BA.2.12.1, BA.4 and BA.5 could accelerate the impact of that waning and broaden the risk of breakthrough infections across the population,” Moderna President Stephen Hoge, M.D., said. “We’re working hard to make improvements to our available boosters.”
Hoge said that the ideal booster would provide neutralizing antibodies against Omicron that provide protection throughout the entire northern hemisphere’s fall and winter infection season. The booster would also provide durable protection against older strains of SARS-CoV-2 such as the Delta variant and increase the potential for protection against new emerging variants.
Moderna is hopeful of introducing new COVID-19 booster vaccines this fall, with the intention of providing seasonal vaccines for the virus every year, that will be bivalent and provide protection against several mutations.
Clinical trial results from Moderna’s bivalent booster with protection against the Omicron variant are anticipated in June. Those that would benefit the most from annual boosting include those over the age of 50, those 18-plus with serious health conditions that could cause an immunocompromised state and people with environmental and occupational risk factors such as healthcare workers.
Beyond an immediate COVID-19 booster, Moderna provided clinical updates for its other vaccine programs. Phase III trials are underway for the company’s flu and RSV vaccines and Moderna has several other vaccine candidates making their way through the pipeline including those that protect against EBV, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), Zika virus and Nipah virus. The company also anticipates data from its personalized cancer vaccine trial in Q4 2022.
Hidden amongst Moderna’s robust mRNA vaccine pipeline candidates was the announcement of Phase I/II studies for an mRNA therapeutic for propionic acidemia (PA), an inherited metabolic disorder that leads to recurrent episodes of life-threatening metabolic decompensation events. The therapeutic is designed to help patients form the enzyme they are deficient in. The company has distributed a total of 75 doses in the clinical studies.
