Moderna Is Now Valued Higher Than 130-Year Old Vaccine Giant Merck

Moderna Inc MRNA, a company founded in 2010, is now worth more than the 130-year old Merck & Co., Inc MRK in terms of market capitalization.

What Happened: Moderna’s shares spiked Monday amid a string of positive news including being granted provisional registration by the Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration for its COVID-19 vaccine.

Moderna shares shot up 17.10% to $484.47 in Monday’s regular session and rose another 0.32% in the after-hours trading.

The Massachusetts-based purveyor of MRNA COVID-19 vaccines has a market capitalization of $195.55 billion at press time.

In comparison — Merck, a pharmaceutical major founded in 1891, has a market capitalization of $190.71 billion.

In Monday’s regular session, Merck saw its shares close 0.16% lower at $75.32.

Why It Matters: It was only last year in January that Moderna developed its COVID-19 vaccine candidate mRNA-1273 in a record two days, while the same process can take years using more traditional methods.

The first volunteer received the test shot on March 16 as Moderna became the first company in the world to launch a clinical trial of a COVID-19 vaccine candidate.

In December 2020, the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine received the nod from an advisory panel of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which cleared the way for it to receive an Emergency Use Authorization.

In its second-quarter earnings report, Moderna noted that its vaccine continues to be 93% effective six months after the second dose.

Pfizer Inc PFE/BioNTech SE BNTX,  which use similar mRNA technology for their vaccine, said the COVID-19 vaccine efficacy declined to 84% after six months.

Oppenheimer analyst Hartaj Singh noted last week that Moderna now has the physical and human capital to rapidly invest in its business with COVID-19 vaccine sales fueling its future growth.

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