Moderna receives FDA approval for Phase 2 COVID-19 vaccine trial

Yahoo Finance’s Brian Sozzi and Alexis Christoforous break down the market action for Moderna, after the company announced it received FDA clearance for its coronavirus vaccine for phase 2 trial.

Video Transcript

BRIAN SOZZI: For the Yahoo Finance Trending Ticker, [INAUDIBLE] shares of Moderna today after the company reported its first quarter earnings results. It also announced it received FDA approval for its coronavirus vaccine phase 2 trial. The trial will begin shortly with 600 participants.

And the company says it's also gearing up for a phase 3 trial as early as this summer. Alexis, this is now the top trending ticker on the [? YahooFinance.com ?] site. And I get it-- a potential vaccine could be big business for this company.

ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: Yeah, and you see that investors want in on this company, and certainly encouraging news for us all that Moderna and companies like it are getting closer to a vaccine. Just to give you an idea, Moderna's stock this time last year was trading at around $24 a share. It's now at about $51 a share.

So Moderna's CEO said in a statement that this imminent study start for its vaccine marks what he calls a crucial step forward. We know that President Trump over the weekend said that he thinks we're going to have a vaccine by the end of the year. A little bit more on this vaccine from Moderna-- a mid-stage trial expected to start shortly.

It could be in late stage study by early this summer. And a biotech company preparing for an application for its product to be approved as soon as 2021. And goodness knows, it can't come soon enough. The company's chief medical officer talked about plans for a larger vaccine trial this summer that could have results later in the year, showing just how effective it is.

And if this vaccine, Brian, is successful you've got high risk people, elderly people, those with underlying health conditions, would be getting access to that vaccine sooner than other people. Do want to mention Moderna has also partnered up with a Swiss biotech company called Lonza in order to scale up production of the vaccine.

And the companies say they are aiming for production capability of 1 billion doses a year. But even Moderna CEO says that's not going to be enough, of course, globally. And he's hoping that more companies are going to be able to come to the finish line with a vaccine of their own.

BRIAN SOZZI: That's certainly good news from Moderna and society at large if they can get this drug through the finish line.