Moderna beats Q2 expectations as vaccine lights fire under revenue

United States pharmaceutical giant Moderna reported total second quarter revenue of $4.4bn on Thursday, compared to $67m for the same period in 2020.

The company said total revenue was $6.3bn for the six months ended 30 June, up from $75m year-on-year, with the explosive growth a result of commercial sales of the company's Covid-19 vaccine, and to a lesser extent, grant revenue.

It reported better-than-expected net income for the quarter, at $2.78bn or 646 US cents per share, ahead of consensus expectations for income of 601 cents on Wall Street.

Product sales for the three and six months ended 30 June totalled $4.2bn and $5.9bn, respectively, from sales of 199 million and 302 million doses of its Covid-19 vaccine.

The increases in grant revenue of $101 million and $291 million for the three and six month periods were primarily driven by increases in revenue from BARDA, related to its vaccine development.

It said more than 90% of its sales were generated through the sale of Covid-19 vaccine doses, Moderns said.

The company also updated its expectations for 2021, reporting that advance purchase agreements had been signed for anticipated product sales of $20bn, including sales already recorded in the first half.

It said it expected dose capacity for its Covid-19 vaccine in the 2021 financial year to be between 800 million and one billion doses.

The cost of sales as percentage of product sales were expected to be between 18% and 20% for the year, as the firm continued to expect quarter-on-quarter cost increases in research and development, and sales, general and administrative expenses during the year. as commercial and research and development activities and expenses ramped up.

“I am proud of the progress our teams at Moderna have made in the past quarter in advancing our development pipeline while addressing a global pandemic and quickly establishing global manufacturing and commercial organisations,” said chief executive officer Stéphane Bancel.

“We now have mRNA candidates in clinical trials across five therapeutic areas including infectious diseases, cardiovascular, oncology, rare disease and autoimmune disorders.

“We are pleased that our Covid-19 vaccine is showing durable efficacy of 93% through six months, but recognize that the ‘Delta’ variant is a significant new threat so we must remain vigilant.”

Looking forward, Bancel the company had started to prepare late-stage studies for its flu and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine, which received fast track designation from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in recent days.

It was also working towards a vision of a single-dose annual booster to provide protection against Covid-19, influenza and RSV for adults.

“I look forward to the start of our phase 3 trial for CMV this year, and to clinical proof of concept data in the coming quarters from our therapeutics pipeline.

“We believe this is just the beginning.”