Moderna’s stock just gave back a big chunk of its August rally, and it happened before the full data was even officially out.
Details from the melanoma vaccine trial leaked ahead of Saturday’s presentation in Madrid, and the stock fell as much as 26% on Thursday before closing down about 17%. That’s more than $17 billion in market value gone in a single session, and the biggest intraday drop in the company’s history.
Here’s the odd part: the results themselves are still good. The personalized vaccine, combined with Keytruda, cut the risk of the cancer returning or causing death by 42%. The problem was the run-up. Moderna had nearly quadrupled since mid-August, after jumping 177% in a single day when the trial first met its goals, so expectations were sky-high. When the real number landed at the lower end of what investors hoped for, the selling started.
Merck, the vaccine’s partner, barely flinched, since for them it’s an add-on rather than the whole story. Eli Lilly, J&J and Pfizer actually rose, and the broader biotech ETFs were only slightly lower, so this was mostly a Moderna story rather than a sector sell-off.
All eyes are now on Saturday’s full data, especially how lower-risk patients responded.
#Moderna #MRNA #Merck #Biotech #StockMarket
Details from the melanoma vaccine trial leaked ahead of Saturday’s presentation in Madrid, and the stock fell as much as 26% on Thursday before closing down about 17%. That’s more than $17 billion in market value gone in a single session, and the biggest intraday drop in the company’s history.
Here’s the odd part: the results themselves are still good. The personalized vaccine, combined with Keytruda, cut the risk of the cancer returning or causing death by 42%. The problem was the run-up. Moderna had nearly quadrupled since mid-August, after jumping 177% in a single day when the trial first met its goals, so expectations were sky-high. When the real number landed at the lower end of what investors hoped for, the selling started.
Merck, the vaccine’s partner, barely flinched, since for them it’s an add-on rather than the whole story. Eli Lilly, J&J and Pfizer actually rose, and the broader biotech ETFs were only slightly lower, so this was mostly a Moderna story rather than a sector sell-off.
All eyes are now on Saturday’s full data, especially how lower-risk patients responded.
#Moderna #MRNA #Merck #Biotech #StockMarket
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