Moderna plans to have omicron booster ready for the fall
Biotech leader Moderna, which has developed a Covid-19 vaccine, is headquartered at 200 Technology Square, in Cambridge.
Biotech leader Moderna, which has developed a Covid-19 vaccine, is headquartered at 200 Technology Square, in Cambridge.
GARY HIGGINS / BOSTON BUSINESS JOURNAL
By Rowan Walrath – Life Sciences Reporter, Boston Business Journal
Jan 10, 2022, 9:22am EST
Moderna Inc. CEO Stéphane Bancel said on Monday that the company will have a new Covid-19 vaccine specifically targeted at the omicron variant ready for the fall.
The omicron-specific vaccine is currently in preclinical development. Moderna (Nasdaq: MRNA) plans to enter clinical trials with the shot early this year, with the expectation that it could be ready to be administered later this year.
"We think this is within reach, and we won't stop until this goal is achieved," Bancel told investors and attendees at the virtual J.P. Morgan Healthcare conference on Monday morning. He added that he expects that while new, more virulent variants are always a possibility — especially given how quickly and drastically omicron mutated from earlier versions of SARS-CoV-2 — it is likely that omicron will at minimum need to be factored into a multivalent Covid-19 vaccine.
Moderna also said it has signed about $18.5 billion in advance purchase agreements for its Covid-19 vaccine with delivery expected this year. That's a $1.5 billion increase from the $17 billion it announced in November.
Bancel hinted that Moderna may increase the price of its Covid-19 vaccine for high-income countries soon. The company already raised the price in the European Union in August, by about one-tenth, the Financial Times reported.
"We have priced the vaccine at the pandemic level," he said. "If you look at the value provided by the vaccine, it is quite remarkable... We believe that in the high-income countries, the vaccine is currently under-priced."
For lower-income countries, Moderna is still working to ramp up its manufacturing and distribution pipeline, as the company has come under fire for "pandemic profiteering" by prioritizing well-resourced countries in its Covid-19 vaccine rollout.
Late last year, the Cambridge-based drug and vaccine maker pledged 50 million doses to the African Union through the first quarter of 2022, with the option for the organization to buy another 60 million for delivery in the second quarter. However, Moderna said in a press release Monday that the African Union had declined the second-quarter doses, as it has "acquired enough doses to ensure that 70% of the African population can be fully vaccinated."
The biotech is also looking to establish a manufacturing facility somewhere in Africa. In response to a question from the Business Journal, Bancel said it would be "a matter of a month or so" before the company announces where, exactly, that site would be located; then, Moderna engineers would break ground "as soon as possible." The company has not provided a timeline on when the facility might open.
Overall, Moderna expects to deliver 2 to 3 billion doses of Covid-19 booster vaccines globally this year.
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Moderna has exploded over the past 12 months: The Cambridge biotech now employs about 2,700 people, just over double its headcount around this time last year. Sales of the Covid-19 vaccine have also provided the company with an impressive cash cushion. Moderna has $17 billion in cash in its balance sheet, Bancel said.
This year, using some of that capital, Moderna will push forward messenger RNA-based vaccines and other drugs, including a "pan-respiratory" vaccine that would provide protection against Covid-19, the flu and respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV.
A slide from Moderna's J.P. Morgan Healthcare conference presentation.
Enlarge
A slide from Moderna's J.P. Morgan Healthcare conference presentation.
SCREENSHOT
Investors are also watching whether Moderna might acquire other companies, although Bancel did not provide a window into his thinking there.
"The ability that we have to invest is something that is really exciting," Bancel said.
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