Moderna is trying to figure out its future. Though more than 10,000 Americans hospitalized because of covid-19 last week alone, the vaccine that made it one of the companies to watch during the pandemic is becoming less and less popular.
On Wednesday, the company announced that it was moving forward with late-stage clinical trials for a number of vaccines that seek to prevent or ameliorate the symptoms of a slew of other household name viruses. All of these were developed from the same groundbreaking mRNA technology that made the covid-19 vaccine so revolutionary.
💉 Norovirus: This virus, which spreads most frequently among young children and older adults, commonly hits carriers with nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. Moderna’s vaccine, code-named mRNA-1403, could be the first approved for treatment.
💉Epstein Barr virus: This virus is very commonly spread, passed along through saliva, but it can sometimes lead to complications. Symptoms can include splenomegaly (an enlarged spleen), lymphadenopathy (swollen lymph nodes), headache, malaise, fatigue, fever, and sore throat. Codename, mRNA-1189.
💉Varicella-Zoster virus: This is the virus known as shingles, a latent form of chickenpox that comes back to life when older adults’ chickenpox vaccines wear off over time. Codename mRNA-1468.
Additionally, the company said that it was seeing positive results for an in-the-works vaccine for RSV — a virus that attacks the respiratory system — noting that it estimates the product could be a $10 billion market.
Muted market reaction
Shares in Moderna were little-changed in early trading Wednesday. The reaction to Wednesday’s vaccine news matches the muted bump the company got from announcing a next-generation covid-19 vaccine. Moderna went public about a year before the onset of the covid-19 pandemic. Its stock is up 8% for the year, but still down nearly 80% from its mid-2021 peak when the world and its investors were far more excited about covid vaccine uptake.