Moderna (MRNA) shares are surging 14% at the time of writing as investors react to the hantavirus and the biotech company’s early vaccine work. The virus has been back in focus after an outbreak on the MV Hondius cruise ship killed three people and infected at least six others, according to the World Health Organization. Moderna, best known for its mRNA COVID-19 vaccine, told Bloomberg News that it has been doing early hantavirus vaccine research with the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases. However, this research started before the recent cruise ship outbreak.
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In addition, Moderna has partnered with the Vaccine Innovation Center at Korea University College of Medicine. Nevertheless, the company said that the work is still in its early stages and it is not close to having a vaccine ready. So even though the stock moved higher on the news, this is still more of a long-term research story than a near-term product launch. The reason a vaccine could take so long is that hantavirus has not attracted much funding in the past.
According to NBC News, this is due to the fact that outbreaks are rare and often occur in poorer countries, where drug companies are less likely to invest heavily. Furthermore, Johns Hopkins professor Sabra Klein said that funding agencies do not put much money into hantavirus research because it is not viewed as likely to cause the next major pandemic. As a result, experts say that a vaccine could still be years away, possibly even a decade or more.
Is MRNA Stock a Good Buy?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Hold consensus rating on MRNA stock based on one Buy, 13 Holds, and two Sells assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. Furthermore, the average MRNA price target of $41.75 per share implies 25% downside risk.
