Moderna maintains vaccine sales view on lower COVAX orders

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Syringes with needles are seen in front of a displayed Moderna logo in this illustration taken November 27, 2021. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo

By Michael Erman and Manas Mishra

(Reuters) -Moderna Inc on Wednesday retained its full-year sales outlook for COVID-19 shot at $21 billion due to a decrease in orders from low- and middle-income countries through the COVAX international vaccine-sharing program.

The company kept its forecast unchanged despite announcing a new $1.74 billion deal with the U.S. government for 66 million COVID-19 booster doses last week.

"It's because of COVAX," Chief Executive Stephane Bancel told Reuters in an interview. "COVAX does not want the doses that they have ordered."

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) and rival Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) have been banking on recurring booster doses, including an Omicron-tailored version, to garner more contracts with higher-income countries.

Bancel said Moderna is aiming to deliver updated COVID-19 boosters in the United States in the early fall.

These shots are redesigned to target both the original coronavirus variant as well as the BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants and are in production, he said.

Other countries are considering an earlier version of the booster shot designed to target the BA.1 Omicron subvariant that was circulating last winter. Those shots had been in production already and would be available sooner, he said.

"There are plenty of countries around the world that would rather start early - as early as August," Bancel said.

"Some of those countries have said they would rather start with the BA.1 now and then go to BA.4 later versus just waiting and hoping."

Bancel said some countries could authorize the BA.1-containing boosters within the next few weeks.

Moderna reported $4.5 billion in sales of its shot in the second-quarter ended June 30. It took a $499 million charge related to vaccines that have expired as well as expenses from unutilized external manufacturing.

Shares of the company rose 3.5% to $166.47 in premarket trading after Moderna announced a $3 billion share buyback plan.