Moderna Scales Back Vaccine Delivery Predictions

Moderna expects 2021 product sales between $15 billion and $18 billion, down from a $20 billion prediction in August, the company announced Thursday.

However, Stéphane Bancel, CEO of Moderna, says that the company “will not rest until our vaccine is available to anyone who needs it, and we are working hard to ensure our vaccine is available in low-income countries with approximately 10% of our 2021 volume and significantly more of our 2022 volume going to low-income countries.”

Longer delivery time and impact of expanding the fill-finish capacity will shift deliveries predicted for 2021 to 2022, Moderna reports. The vaccine is the only drug Moderna has on the market, and it delivered 208 million doses in the third quarter.

In the U.S., Moderna delivered 73 million vaccine doses to the government while the rest of the world got 136 million. In the U.S., about 160 million doses of Moderna have been administered compared to 248.6 million of Pfizer’s vaccine and 15.7 million for J&J’s one-shot vaccine.

In its reported third-quarter results, Moderna recorded $4.81 billion in sales, up from $4.2 billion in the second quarter. Earnings per share reached $7.70, which is short of the Wall Street expectation of $9.09. Industry analysts also expected revenue closer to $6.2 billion, but Moderna reported only $5 billion for the third quarter.

Moderna is also waiting on emergency use authorization (EUA) for its vaccine for 12- to 16-year-olds and announced it will delay filing an EUA request for its vaccine for 6- to 11-year-olds.