Moderna Stock Slips As Ambitious Cancer Trials Drag On

Moderna ( (MRNA) ) has fallen by -8.17%. Read on to learn why.

Moderna shares fell 8.17% over the past week, even as the company and partner Merck highlighted steady progress across a series of cancer vaccine trials built around Moderna’s personalized mRNA candidate V940 (intismeran autogene). The market reaction suggests investors remain cautious about the long timelines and execution risks tied to these studies, with no near‑term revenue boost in sight despite the ambitious clinical program.

The latest updates center on multiple Phase 3 trials in resected non‑small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), where V940 is being combined with Merck’s blockbuster immunotherapy Keytruda to try to keep cancer from returning after surgery. In these randomized, double‑blind studies, all patients receive Keytruda, but only the test group gets V940 injections, with the main goal of extending how long patients remain disease‑free. The trials are still in the recruiting phase, with key completion dates likely several years away, meaning they are more important for sentiment and long‑term optionality than for immediate earnings.

Moderna also reported progress on a Phase 2 trial in high‑risk non‑muscle invasive bladder cancer, testing V940 plus standard BCG therapy versus BCG alone, with a smaller arm for V940 monotherapy. This reinforces Moderna’s strategy to build a second growth pillar in oncology beyond its COVID franchise and deepens its collaboration with Merck across solid tumors. However, with all these programs still in mid‑ to late‑stage development and no efficacy data yet, the stock’s recent decline reflects investor impatience and risk‑aversion around long-dated oncology bets, even as the pipeline keeps advancing on paper.