Why Moderna Shares Are Ripping Higher Today

Moderna Inc (NASDAQ: MRNA) is trading higher Monday following the company's pipeline update at the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference.

Moderna announced that it now has 40 programs in development, including 23 in ongoing clinical studies, encompassing mRNA infectious disease vaccines and mRNA therapeutics spanning seven different modalities.

"While our COVID-19 vaccine is our first medicine to market, we have made significant progress across our pipeline of 40 development programs and now have 23 mRNA programs in clinical trials," said Stéphane Bancel, CEO of Moderna.

"We will continue to advance mRNA vaccines that can have a profound impact on health and quality of life including vaccines against respiratory viruses with the goal of bringing to market a pan-respiratory annual customizable booster vaccine," Bancel added.

Moderna also announced a collaboration with Carisma for cancer therapeutics Monday. The collaboration aims to discover, develop and commercialize in vivo engineered chimeric antigen receptor monocyte therapeutics.

Carisma will be responsible for the discovery and optimization of development candidates while Moderna will lead the clinical development and commercialization of therapeutics resulting from the agreement.

Carisma is set to receive a $45 million up-front cash payment and an investment by Moderna in the form of a $35 million convertible note.

See Also: Why Bristol-Myers Squibb Shares Are Trading Higher Today

MRNA Price Action: Moderna has traded as low as $111.49 and as high as $497.49 over a 52-week period.

The stock was up 9.15% at $233.44 at time of publication.

Photo: mufidpwt from Pixabay.