Moderna stock dipped Tuesday after the company said its omicron-targeting booster generated antibodies capable of tackling the newest Covid variants.
The news is promising for Moderna's bivalent approach, Chief Executive Stephane Bancel said in a written statement. Bivalent vaccines aim to block multiple strains. In this case, the vaccine is being developed as a booster for the ancestral Covid virus and the B.A.1 sub-variant of omicron.
Despite being developed to block B.A.1, the shot resulted in antibodies that could protect against the newer sub-variants known as B.A.4 and B.A.5. The duo are now dominant in the U.S. Moderna said its booster led to a 6.3-fold increase in antibodies that could take on the new sub-variants. Its already authorized booster, on the other hand, only generated a 3.5-fold bump in antibodies.
"We are very pleased that our bivalent platform continues to demonstrate better performance than the current booster," Bancel said. He added, the update "adds to the largest body of data confirming the superiority of a bivalent approach."
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On today's stock market, Moderna stock fell 1.2% to 173.25.
Moderna Stock: Targeting New Sub-Variants
The booster process in the U.S. is tricky.
Moderna, Pfizer and Novavax all tested boosters capable of taking on the B.A.1 sub-variant. But since their development, B.A.1 now accounts for no cases in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Instead, B.A.5 accounts for 65% of cases with B.A.4 trailing distantly at 16%.
The Food and Drug Administration recently asked the companies to pivot and instead develop their updated boosters for the newer sub-variants. Meanwhile, the European Medicines Agency says it's open to using boosters that target B.A.1, the older sub-variant, according to Reuters.
Moderna says it's now developing two updated boosters "based on different market preferences for omicron sub-variants." They will differ from the authorized booster which is a lower dose of the first vaccination series. That targets the ancestral strain of the virus discovered in late 2019.
Booster discussion has sent Moderna stock higher. Shares definitively retook their 50-day moving average in late June, according to MarketSmith.com. Similarly, shares of Pfizer's Covid shot partner, BioNTech, and Novavax have trended higher since mid-June.
Follow Allison Gatlin on Twitter at @IBD_AGatlin.
