The Moderna Inc (NASDAQ: MRNA) share price went like gangbusters yesterday, overnight Aussie time. The US biotech company's share price leapt 10.8%. And its up another 3.8% in afterhours trading.
This comes as investors eagerly anticipate the outcome of the final analysis of Moderna's promising COVID-19 vaccine trial.
Earlier this month, Moderna joined Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) and BioNTech SE (NASDAQ: BNTX) in a globally exclusive club when the company announced its vaccine looked to be 95% effective in its extensive trial. One which encompassed 30,000 people.
Moderna's share price is now up 62% so far in November, and 468% so far in 2020. At the current share price, Moderna has a market cap of $48 billion.
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What does Moderna do?
Based in the United States city of Cambridge, Massachusetts, Moderna is a biotechnology company. The company focuses on developing and discovering new drugs and vaccine technologies based on messenger RNA. Moderna's technology platform inserts synthetic mRNA into human cells.
Why did the Moderna's share price leap 11% overnight?
Moderna's share price has been steadily moving higher on a series of positive announcements from the company.
Among those, the US has committed to buying 100 million doses of its vaccine, mRNA-1273, provided it wins emergency use approval. And it's not just the US.
Japan has agreed to buy 50 million doses, Canada wants 20 million and, in the latest development, the European Commission agreed to buy 80 million doses with an option to double that to 160 million. That agreement remains subject to European approval of the vaccine.
The 10.8% share price leap overnight comes as Moderna expects to release the final data from its expansive trial within the next week. Should the vaccine's efficacy prove to be in the 94.5% range as initially reported, Moderna will then file for emergency use authorisation with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
If it gains approval, Moderna's vaccine could begin mass distribution just as global infection rates are rocketing to new levels. Hence the big share price surge.
Share markets are said to be forward looking. Meaning they anticipate tomorrow's news today.
With more than 588,000 new infections reported on Tuesday, 24 March, and global cases exceeding 60.2 million with 1.4 million fatalities, let's all hope the market's got this one right!
