Moderna's 2022 shot orders edge up amid easing pandemic

[NEW YORK] Orders for Moderna's Covid-19 vaccine rose only modestly in the last 6 weeks as it battles rivals for market share amid fading pandemic concerns, although the company is still waiting to see whether the US places new booster orders for later this year.

The messenger RNA vaccine maker said it has signed US$19 billion worth of agreements for 2022 sales of its shot, up from US$18.5 billion announced in January.

But the company also said in an quarterly earnings statement that options for 2022 orders were US$3 billion, down from US$3.5 billion announced earlier.

Still, chief executive officer Stephane Bancel said on a conference call that the US government has yet to put in new orders for 2022. That suggests there is room for the numbers to grow later this year if the US decides to buy a large amount of booster doses.

Moderna also announced a US$3 billion share repurchase programme. The shares rose as much as 12 per cent as of 10.09 am in New York. They had lost almost half their value before today since the year began.

Covid case numbers are plummeting around the world as the Omicron wave recedes, while new vaccine makers such as Novavax enter the market. As countries relax pandemic restrictions, Moderna is working to retain momentum in sales of its only product.

For the quarter, earnings were US$11.29 a share on revenues of US$7.21 billion.

Analysts had estimated earnings of US$10.17 a share and revenue of US$6.84 billion.

The company said final 2021 sales of its Covid vaccine, its only product, were US$17.7 billion, slightly above the US$17.5 billion preliminary product sales number announced in January.

Moderna has been racing with rival mRNA partners Pfizer and BioNTech to ramp up Covid vaccine production and sell shots around the world. Pfizer has said it has US$32 billion in 2022 orders for its Covid vaccine.

Key variables in Moderna's future sales include whether fourth doses will be widely used and whether variant-specific boosters, which both Moderna and Pfizer are testing, will prove useful.

On a conference call with analysts, Moderna officials said they continue to believe that a fourth booster dose will be needed by the fall of 2022.

Moderna also said it's working on a shot that would combine its existing Covid vaccine with the Omicron-specific version that's in testing.

Overall, about 807 million vaccine doses were shipped worldwide in 2021, Moderna said. BLOOMBERG