A nurse draws a Moderna coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine, at East Valley Community Health Center in La Puente, California, March 5, 2021.
Lucy Nicholson | Reuters
Moderna said its Covid-19 vaccine is 96% effective in kids ages 12 to 17, according to early data released with the company’s first-quarter earnings Thursday.
The young biotech company, which turned its first quarterly profit ever, also said it plans to submit data on its vaccine for adults to the FDA for full approval later this month.
Similar to adults, the shot in teens was also generally well tolerated with no serious safety concerns identified to date, the company said.
Here’s how Moderna did compared with what Wall Street expected, according to average estimates compiled by Refinitiv:
- EPS: $2.84 per share versus $2.39 per share expected
- Revenue: $1.94 billion versus $2.03 billion expected
Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine generated $1.7 billion in sales, according to the earnings report.
The company raised its 2021 sales forecast for its vaccine to $19.2 billion, up from its previous forecast of $18.4 billion. Earlier this week, rival Pfizer also raised its vaccine sale forecast, predicting full-year sales of $26 billion.
“In the first quarter, the Moderna team delivered on its supply commitments to many governments and helped protect more than 100 million people,” Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel said in a press release. “This accomplishment translated into our first profitable quarter in the company’s history, after 10 years of scientific innovation and several billion dollars invested to make our mRNA platform a reality.”
Moderna, which was founded in 2020, was the second company to gain U.S. authorization for its Covid vaccine behind Pfizer. It has a deal with the U.S. government for 300 million doses, enough to inoculate 150 million Americans since the vaccine requires two doses given four weeks apart.
On Wednesday, the company announced a booster shot of its vaccine generated a promising immune response against the B.1.351 and P.1 variants first identified in South Africa and Brazil, respectively. The data was preliminary and had not yet been peer-reviewed.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
