Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) news coming out Thursday concerning a Phase 2 trial of its vaccine to treat the novel coronavirus has MRNA stock heading higher.
According to Moderna, the company is able to move forward with a Phase 2 trial of coronavirus vaccine mRNA-1273. This is due to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approving its Investigational New Drug Application for the vaccine.
Moderna notes that with this approval, it can start the Phase 2 trials in the near future. The company also points out that this opens the way for “finalizing protocol for Phase 3 study of mRNA-1273.” It is expecting the Phase 3 trials to start in early summer.
Stéphane Bancel, CEO of Moderna, said this about the news.
“With the goal of starting the mRNA-1273 pivotal Phase 3 study early this summer, Moderna is now preparing to potentially have its first BLA approved as soon as 2021. We are accelerating manufacturing scale-up and our partnership with Lonza puts us in a position to make and distribute as many vaccine doses of mRNA-1273 as possible, should it prove to be safe and effective”
The positive Moderna news also comes alongside its earnings report for the first quarter of 2020. This has it bringing in losses per share of -35 cents on revenue of $8.39 million. Wall Street was expecting losses per share of -35 cents on revenue of $17.09 million during the quarter.
MRNA stock was up 10.6% as of Thursday afternoon and is up 154.6% since the start of the year.
As of this writing, William White did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.
