Moderna Looking To Price Its Coronavirus Vaccine At $50-$60, Significantly Above Rivals: FT

Moderna Inc (NASDAQ: MRNA) is looking to price its COVID-19 vaccine significantly ahead of rivals in between $50 and $60 per course, the Financial Times reported Wednesday.

What Happened

The Massachusetts-based biotechnology company is considering pricing a single dose of the vaccine in the range of $25-$30, according to the Financial Times. This would be significantly higher than the $19.50 per dose implied price that Pfizer Inc (NYSE: PFE) and its German partner BioNTech SE (NASDAQ: BNTX) are charging the United States government, as part of their pre-order deal.

AstraZeneca plc (NYSE: AZN) has entered into a deal with governments of the Netherlands, Germany, France, and Italy to supply its COVID-19 vaccine at $3 to $4 per dose, according to SVB Leerink analyst Geoffrey Porges. 

Moderna wants to charge early buyers, including the European Union, a price that is in high double-digit dollars per course, people in the know told the Financial Times.

The company’s pricing was causing “considerable concern and difficulties in negotiations, in view of the fact that other companies have pledged much lower prices,” said one of the British publication's sources.

Why It Matters

Moderna, Pfizer, and Merck & Co., Inc (NYSE: MRK) all said at a Congressional hearing last week that they intended to make a profit on their respective vaccines.

AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) said they would not make a profit on the vaccines, should they get regulatory clearance, in the early phases of the pandemic.

Moderna on Sunday announced it would receive an additional $472 million in U.S. government funding, on top of a $483 million award it had already received, for late-stage clinical development of the vaccine. Earlier in the month, the government promised $1.6 billion in funding to Novavax, Inc (NASDAQ: NVAX).

Price Action

Moderna shares closed nearly 2% higher at $81.49 on Tuesday and added another 0.5% in the after-hours trading.

Photo by NIH on Flickr