Earlier this month, Stéphane Bancel, CEO of mRNA specialist Moderna, delivered some difficult truths to shareholders about the company’s lackluster vaccine sales in COVID-19 and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).
Now, the Cambridge-based biotech is hitting the stage during the opening day of the 2025 J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference with a detailed look at the financial hit—and a cost-cutting scheme designed to right the ship.
Against the backdrop of poor sales of the company’s COVID-19 shot Spikevax and its RSV prophylactic mRESVIA, Moderna is “accelerating and expanding” its prior cost efficiency and prioritization efforts, according to a Monday press release. The company plans to hive off roughly $1 billion from its annual spend this year and to chop a further $500 million in expenses next year.
The company has reduced its revenue guidance for 2025, as well, forecasting sales to land between $1.5 billion and $2.5 billion this year. The big biotech previously hoped to generate between $2.5 billion and $3 billion in 2025.
As for 2024, Moderna says it reeled in sales between $3 billion and $3.1 billion, a result that came in at the low end of the company’s previous guidance range of $3 billion to $3.5 billion. Moderna attributed that commercial haul to more than $3 billion in Spikevax sales and a “minimal” contribution from mRESVIA, which was approved by the FDA in May.
In an annual shareholder letter earlier this month, Bancel described a recent “contraction” of the U.S. RSV market fueled by a limited vaccine recommendation from the CDC. In light of the situation, Moderna will tweak its financial reporting traditions to omit products in their launch year going forward, Bancel added, admitting that the company was “too optimistic” about its ability to break into the RSV vaccine market.
Apart from the CDC’s restrictive recommendation, mRESVIA also faces the unenviable task of going up against incumbent RSV shots from GSK and Pfizer.
Following news of Moderna’s cost-cutting plans and guidance reduction Monday morning, the company’s stock price was down some 24% in early trading.
Looking at the next 12 months, Moderna is holding firm in its commitment to advance a range of clinical assets in respiratory viruses, rare diseases, cancer, and latent and other viruses.
"We remain focused on our three strategic priorities: driving sales growth, delivering up to 10 product approvals over the next three years, and reducing costs across our business,” Bancel said in a statement.
Near term, Moderna is expecting the FDA to make a decision on its next-generation COVID shot mRNA-1283 toward the end of May. Beyond that potential nod, the company is working through the regulatory process with an application for mRESVIA in high-risk adults, plus a combination vaccine for seasonal flu and COVID.