Moderna Sinks 17% After Leaked Melanoma Vaccine Data Wipes Out $17 Billion
Updated
Updated · Yahoo Finance · Oct 22
Moderna Sinks 17% After Leaked Melanoma Vaccine Data Wipes Out $17 Billion
3 articles · Updated · Yahoo Finance · Oct 22
Summary
$17 billion in market value evaporated as Moderna shares closed down more than 17%, after falling as much as 26% on leaked late-stage melanoma vaccine results.
The leaked data still showed the personalized shot with Merck's Keytruda cut recurrence or death risk by 42%, but that trailed the 49% seen in an earlier, smaller trial and fell short of elevated investor expectations.
Those expectations had surged after Moderna's Aug. 19 announcement sent the stock up 177%; by Wednesday it had nearly quadrupled from mid-August and reached its highest close since 2021.
Merck, which confirmed the early release, fell nearly 4% at its low before trimming losses, while broader healthcare names including Eli Lilly, Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer rose.
Full trial data is due Saturday at the ESMO cancer conference in Madrid, with investors focused on subgroup details such as outcomes for lower-risk patients.