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Moderna (MRNA) saw its stock price surge by 14.93% to $46.50, reaching new record highs after announcing a $483 million award from the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA). This funding is aimed at scaling up manufacturing and further developing the company’s SARS-CoV-2 vaccine, mRNA-1273.
The Phase 1 study for mRNA-1273 began on March 16 and has already completed enrollment for three dose cohorts (25 µg, 100 µg, and 250 µg). The study is now expanding to include six additional cohorts of older and elderly adults. Moderna expects to begin the Phase 2 study in the second half of 2020.
With the new funding, Moderna plans to hire up to 150 new employees. The company believes it could supply millions of vaccine doses per month this year and, with further investment, tens of millions of doses per month in 2021, provided the vaccine candidate is successful in clinical trials.
Earlier today, news that Gilead Sciences’ drug Remdesivir showed positive results in treating the coronavirus boosted sentiment in the pharmaceutical sector. Remdesivir is one of the first drugs proposed as a potential treatment for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.
Moderna’s stock opened with a significant gap up following the news of the funding, reaching all-time highs as efforts to combat the coronavirus outbreak intensify. While the technical outlook is bullish, the stock has reached overbought levels, making it a risky investment. The news surrounding coronavirus vaccines and treatments is expected to be the primary driver of the stock price in the coming weeks.
On the technical side, immediate resistance is at $49, the current daily and all-time high, with the next resistance at the psychological level of $50. On the downside, the first support level is at $43.368, the daily low. The next level to watch is yesterday’s session high of $41.60, which could signal the closing of today’s gap and attract more sellers, targeting $36.59, yesterday’s trading low.