Things are looking bright for Moderna as it reported unexpected first-quarter earnings on Thursday. But the company is not wavering in its plans to dramatically increase the price of its COVID-19 vaccines.
While financial analysts expected the company to post revenue of $1.18 billion and a loss of $1.77 per share in the first quarter, the company reported $1.86 billion in revenue with a small profit of 19 cents per share. part.
The company forecasts $5 billion in COVID vaccine sales this year.
The hefty profits have not changed the company’s plans for its COVID-19 vaccines. In an earnings call Thursday, Moderna Chief Commercial Officer Arpa Garay confirmed the company is still going ahead with the 400 percent increase as vaccines move from federal distribution to the commercial market later this year.
“In terms of pricing in the US market, we expect our list price — when we have our updated vaccines — to be between $110 and $130,” Garay said.
In March, Stéphane Bancel, CEO of Moderna, unashamedly defended the price hike to lawmakers despite caustic criticism. Senators at the Congressional hearing stressed that Moderna developed the vaccine in collaboration with government scientists at the National Institutes of Health, and that the federal government has spent about $10 billion to support clinical development and production of the injections in the early days of the pandemic.
“This vaccine would not exist without the partnership and expertise of the NIH and the substantial investment of this country’s taxpayers,” said Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who presided over the hearing. “And here is the thank you that the taxpayers of this country received from Moderna for that huge investment: They thank the taxpayers of the United States by proposing to quadruple the price of the COVID vaccine.”
According to a report by The Washington Post last week, Bancel has benefited greatly from the pandemic, making him a billionaire. Last year, Moderna increased Bancel’s salary by 50 percent to $1.5 million and increased his target cash bonus. He also exercised stock options worth nearly $393 million.
Moderna’s compensation and governance has generally raised eyebrows among financial analysts, the Post notes. The salary of Moderna’s board members ranks in the top 25 percent of directors of America’s top 500 largest publicly traded companies, with the average member salary set at $475,000 last year. That’s well above rival pharmaceutical giants, including Pfizer, Bristol-Myers Squibb and Merck.
