Variant viruses are hard to come by and Modena warns of “a new wave of infections coming soon”

Moderna said a new wave of outbreaks is expected as some of the mutated strains of the virus are more infectious than the original strains and more difficult to neutralize with their own vaccines.

Barron’s reports that Moderna’s Chief Scientific Officer Melissa Moore said at an online investor briefing on Thursday: “The virus is mutating faster as it spreads. Some of the mutated strains are more infectious than the original strains… We already know that certain new strains of the virus are not easily neutralized by Modena’s existing vaccine.”

Modena said it is currently testing the neutralization of its own vaccine against the variant viruses in the lab and continues to produce and test new vaccines, but the process of developing new vaccines is not a quick fix and the complex research process takes time.

Guillaume Stewat-Jones, a scientist who studies viruses in-house at Modena, said it takes at least two to three months from the detection of a group of virus variants to immunization for clinical trials, but viruses are constantly mutating and new ones are appearing all the time.

Analysts at the online conference focused almost entirely on the New Crown vaccine, and SVB Leerink analyst Mani Foroohar wrote in a report, “Although Modena is a company focused on cancer immunotherapy drugs rather than on research to produce the New Crown vaccine, the company is still one of the New Crown vaccine stocks for now. ” Emphasizes the importance of vaccines to Modena’s current valuation.

Another Jefferies analyst, Michael Yee, wrote in the report, “Modena is investing in research engineering to ensure technology uniqueness in a situation where anyone can develop an mRNA vaccine.” Pointing to Modena’s dominant position in mRAN therapeutic technology.

However, Foroohar is cautious in its assessment of Modena shares, giving the stock an “underperform” rating and a price target of $83. Yee, on the other hand, is bullish on the stock’s performance, giving it a “hold” rating and a price target of The price target is set at $179.54.

Shares of Modena (MRNA-US) rose 3.05% to $185.01 per share on Friday (28th).