The shares of Moderna Inc (Nasdaq: MRNA) hogged the limelight yesterday after the biotechnology company’s CEO, Stephane Bancel, stated that by November, the company would have adequate info about the late-stage trial to conclude whether its COVID-19 vaccine provides the desired effect. In a separate media release, the company stated that it has entered into a partnership with Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX) to develop a therapy for cystic fibrosis. The stock closed at $67.89, almost flat from the prior close.
The Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Moderna stated that the likelihood of having adequate data by October is less. Furthermore, the CEO opined that “If the infection rate in the country were to slow down in the next weeks, it could potentially be pushed out in a worst-case scenario in December.”
Moderna, Pfizer, and AstraZeneca are the three pharmaceutical companies backed by the US in the final stage trial of a potential COVID-19 vaccine. The company’s experimental vaccine consists of genetic matter, technically referred to as messenger RNA (mRNA), which researchers believe will stir up the immune system to wrestle with the virus. In July, the company published early-phase data that confirmed the potential vaccine’s ability to induce an encouraging response in a limited number of volunteers.
Bancel’s statement came four days after Pfizer announced that its vaccine could be available to Americans before the end of this year. However, contagious disease specialists and academics have expressed concerns that the White House may put the FDA under pressure to endorse a vaccine before being trialed sufficiently. On Wednesday, President Donald Trump stated that the US government could begin distributing a COVID-19 vaccine as soon as October, a highly improbable estimate, considering the present scenario.
Notably, on September 8th, Moderna and eight additional pharmaceutical companies published a letter guaranteeing that they would give importance to safety and preserve “the integrity of the scientific process” in their steps to develop a vaccine for the coronavirus infection. Furthermore, in its media release, Moderna also provided info related to the evaluation of clinical data.
Bancel said, “We believe this is unprecedented times. There’s a lot of suffering from a public health standpoint. If Moderna’s vaccine were to get a good safety readout and a good efficacy readout and be approved by the agency, we care deeply that this vaccine is trusted.”
Earlier in September, Moderna stated that it is deliberately slowing the process of signing up volunteers for its clinical trial to guarantee that it has enough representation of minorities facing the highest risk of infection. As of date, the company has signed up 25,296 people as volunteers for the clinical trial and anticipates enrolling a maximum of 30,000 volunteers.
While investors are eagerly waiting for Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine trial results, the company has entered into a partnership with Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (Nasdaq: VRTX) to cement its future growth.
Both companies have entered into a strategic research partnership and licensing deal intended to discover and develop “lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) and mRNAs for the delivery of gene-editing therapies for the treatment of cystic fibrosis (CF).” Under the three-year research partnership, the companies will work together to discover and optimize “novel LNPs and mRNAs that can deliver gene-editing therapies to cells in the lungs, enabling functional cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) protein to be generated.”
As per the agreement, Moderna will be paid $75 million as an advance and another $380 million upon completion of relevant milestones, including royalties. While Moderna will work on the “discovery and manufacturing of LNPs and mRNA constructs encoding gene-editing endonucleases,” Vertex will provide “components of the gene-editing therapies to be formulated into LNPs,” in addition to “preclinical and clinical development” and marketing initiatives. Both companies have already partnered for the “discovery and development of mRNA therapeutics for the treatment of CF.”
The optimistic news about COVID-19 data and the new partnership with Vertex is expected to keep the stock of Moderna range-bound with a slight bullish bias.
The historical price chart of Moderna indicates that the stock has closed above its 50-day moving average. The stock also has strong support at 65. Furthermore, the main line of the MACD indicator has crossed above the signal line, and the histogram reading has turned positive. Therefore, we are expecting the stock to appreciate in the near-term.
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