Moderna Says U.S. Has Committed To Another 100M Doses of COVID-19 Vaccine

Even as emergency use authorization came in late Friday for the COVID-19 vaccine from Pfizer Inc. PFE and BioNTech SE – ADR BNTX, Moderna Inc MRNA announced a greater committment from the U.S. for its vaccine candidate, mRNA-1273.

What Happened: Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Moderna said the U.S. government has exercised an option to purchase an additional 100 million doses of mRNA-1273.

In mid-August, Moderna announced a deal with the U.S. government to supply 100 million doses of the investigational vaccine for up to $1.525 billion. The agreement also carried an option for the U.S. government buying up to an additional 400 million doses.

Apart from the confirmed commitment of 200 million doses, the U.S. government now retains the option to purchase an additional 300 million doses.

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Moderna said about 20 million doses of the initially committed 100 million doses will be delivered by the end of December, and the balance will come in the first quarter of 2021. The new order of 100 million doses with be delivered in the second quarter of 2021, the company added.

The supply is subject to emergency use authorization by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Moderna said it expects the U.S. government to provide the vaccine to the Americans at no cost, as previously announced.

Why It's Important: Although Pfizer Inc.and its German partner BioNTech were first in the vaccine race, active cases in the U.S. are still surging, and the need for more than one vaccine is acute.

Moderna is likely to follow the U.S.-German combo's path by first getting emergency authorization from the FDA and then getting its vaccine into the market.

The FDA's vaccine committee is scheduled to meet Dec. 17 to decide on Modern's EUA application.

Moderna, which closed Friday's session up 0.80% at $156.93, rose 2.98% to $161.60 in the after-hours session.

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