Just one day after CEO Stéphane Bancel’s sudden announcement of a 10% workforce reduction, Moderna has released Q2 2025 that that fell short of analyst expectations.
Revenue declined 41% to $142m, largely due to to a drop in Covid vaccine sales, particularly Spikevax and mRESVIA, the company said.
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The results also weighed on the mRNA vaccine specialist’s share price, which dropped by 8.9% to $26.92 per share.
In an investor call, Moderna’s CFO Jamey Mock blamed the revenue decline on uncertainties in vaccination rates, the competitive market environment and the size of the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) market.
This latest results follow years of poor financial performance for Moderna, which has posted substantial losses since the 2022 financial year – with revenue falling from more than $19bn in 2022 to $3.2bn in 2024.
In an investor call, Moderna’s Mock stated that “advancing its pipeline” of Phase III assets and “driving use of its commercial products” would be key to future recovery.
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By GlobalDataModerna intensifies cost-cutting efforts
To offset this quarter’s losses, Moderna is implementing a series of operational cost reduction strategies, aligned with both Mock and Bancel’s commitment to stay “highly focused on financial discipline”.
During the call, Bancel outlined a $1.5bn, 3 year cost-cutting plan, primarily focused on “winding down” new R&D efforts – with a specific focus on respiratory health.
Savings will be sought through procurement optimisation, enhanced manufacturing and a staff restructuring initiative, announced internally and through Moderna’s website on 31 July.
Although Moderna plans to cut more than 800 jobs, recruitment will continue, with the CEO noting that over 150 vacancies remain open.
Bancel did not provide further details on who will be affected by the upcoming job cuts.
Many pharma companies are citing Trump’s tariffs as a key influence on their cost of sales. Mock stated that “newly introduced tariffs are not expected to have a material impact on our cost of sales,” despite the manufacture of Moderna’s portfolio being spilt amongst Europe and the US.
This follows the signing of the US-EU deal, which imposes 15% tariffs on all pharmaceutical imports.
Looking ahead
Upon review of Moderna’s Q2 2025 results, infectious disease analyst at GlobalData Anaelle Tannen noted that financial performance was slightly better than expected, and classified the results as “unsurprising”.
“Sales will likely increase in the second half of the year as the RSV, flu and Covid seasons hit the northern hemisphere,” said Tannen.
Although mRNA is Moderna’s bread and butter, Tannen stated that remaining solely in this area is risky until multiple high-value products reach the market.
“Moderna is at the cutting edge of mRNA technology, but the commercialisation gap is stark. There is a heavy emphasis on R&D, but profitability is low as few mRNA vaccines have made it to market yet, while the modality also faces scepticism due the expedition of Covid vaccine trials.”
Asked whether diversifying away from mRNAs may benefit Moderna long-term, Tannen noted: “Exploring other modalities wouldn’t necessarily help the company either, as it would still take time to perform clinical trials and for products to attain approval.”
Meanwhile, outside of Moderna, the mRNA therapy market is experiencing rapid growth, with a report from GlobalData, parent company of Pharmaceutical Technology, finding that licensing agreement deal values involving mRNA soared by 800% between 2019 and 2024.
Growth of mRNA vaccines is also showing robust growth, with GlobalData analysis estimating that sales will increase from $20.1bn in 2024 to $89.8bn in 2030, at a CAGR of 28.3%.
