Why Moderna, uniQure And Novavax Are Moving Today

Moderna, Inc. MRNA. uniQure N.V. QURE and Novavax, Inc. NVAX were among the biggest movers among biopharma stocks Thursday.

Moderna Slides On Q1 Revenue Miss: Moderna reported first-quarter revenues of $1.9 billion, sharply higher than the $8 million revenues reported for the year-ago quarter. This, however, was shy of the $2.04 billion revenues estimated by analysts. COVID-19 vaccine revenues came in at $1.7 billion.

The company reversed to a profit of $2.84 per share from a loss of 35 cents in the year-ago period. Analysts, on average, had estimated EPS of $2.39.

Moderna expects COVID-19 vaccine sales of $19.2 billion for the full year 2021. The consensus revenue estimate for the year is $17.42 billion.

In separate releases, the company announced positive Phase 2 results for the study of booster doses of its original COVID-19 vaccine and variant-specific COVID-19 vaccine and a contract for supplying 7 million booster doses to the Swiss government in 2022, with an option for an additional 7 million doses.

Moderna shares were sliding 9.35% to $147.62.

Related Link: Attention Biotech Investors: Mark Your Calendar For May PDUFA Dates

uniQure Rallies On Licensing Deal For Hemophilia B Gene Therapy Becoming Effective: Gene therapy company uniQure said the waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 for the global licensing agreement with CSL Behring for etranacogene dezaparvovec, an investigational gene therapy for patients with hemophilia B, expired Wednesday, and the agreement became fully effective Thursday.

"This transaction positions etranacogene dezaparvovec to be made available to the largest number of hemophilia B patients as quickly as possible and provides uniQure with significant financial resources to advance and expand our pipeline of gene therapy candidates," said Matt Kapusta, CEO of uniQure.

The agreement between the two companies announced in June 2020 provided CSL Behring with exclusive global rights to etranacogene dezaparvovec for a payment of $450 million cash payment and up to $1.6 billion in payments based on regulatory and commercial milestones.

uniQure shares were up 7.15% at $32.66.

Novavax Lower Despite Vaccine Contract, Publication of Efficacy Data Against Variant: Novavax announced the publication in the New England Journal of Medicine results from the initial primary analysis of a Phase 2b clinical trial conducted in South Africa of its NVX-CoV2373 COVID-19 vaccine candidate, showing an overall efficacy of 49%, and an efficacy of 60% among healthy adults without HIV.

Separately, the company said t it has finalized an advance purchase agreement with Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, for supply of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate to the COVAX Facility. Under the APA, Novavax is expected to manufacture and distribute 350 million doses of NVX-CoV2373 to countries participating under the COVAX Facility. Under a separate purchase agreement with Gavi, the Serum Institute of India is expected to manufacture and deliver the balance of the 1.1 billion doses of Novavax's vaccine.

The stock was down 5.96% at $161.50.