Moderna explores outside financing for vaccine trials, shares dip

Investing.com -- Moderna Inc (BMV: MRNA) (NASDAQ: MRNA) shares fell 2.2% Thursday as the company confirmed it is seeking outside investment to support its late-stage vaccine programs. The move underscores the biotech firm’s effort to align capital efficiency with strategic advancement across its product pipeline amid slowing COVID-19 revenue.

“We are very actively talking to potential partners right now,” CEO Stéphane Bancel said Wednesday at the Goldman Sachs Annual Global Healthcare Conference. He added that the discussions involved both pharmaceutical companies and financial partners, enabling the company to progress stalled late-stage candidates while controlling costs.

A key focus for potential funding includes its latent virus vaccine programs, such as those targeting Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), herpes simplex virus (HSV), and varicella-zoster virus (VZV). “We are working actively with [a] pharma company on the one hand and [a] financial partner on the other hand because we want those products to get to phase three,” Bancel said.

Moderna has paused internal spending for those programs, opting instead to secure external capital and avoid further capital expenditure. “We could launch EBV without adding $1 of CapEx. We could launch HSV without adding $1 of CapEx,” Bancel said, noting that Moderna’s existing facilities have sufficient capacity to support production without the need for additional investment.

The company’s earlier collaboration with Blackstone (NYSE: BX) on financing a flu vaccine program stands as a precedent for these new deal structures. “We would rather wait a few months to get the best partnership than being in a hurry and destroy value for shareholders by being in a hurry,” Bancel noted.

While the company has over $8.5 billion in cash on hand, Bancel indicated this financing effort is about maximizing efficiency, not bridging funding gaps. “We want to figure out who is the best partner in terms of capabilities and in terms of value,” he said, reiterating that securing the right structure is more important than speed.

The funding push comes as Moderna aims to return to profitability by 2028 while ramping its oncology and respiratory portfolios. Shares finished the day down 2.2%, reflecting cautious sentiment amid uncertainty around vaccine uptake, trial timelines, and partnering outcomes.

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