Sliding vaccine sales, new costs, squeeze Moderna 4Q profit

Moderna’s fourth-quarter profit tumbled 70% as COVID-19 vaccine sales fell and the drugmaker caught up on a royalty payment.

Heavy research and development costs also weighed on Moderna as the vaccine developer looks to strengthen an income statement currently dominated by its Spikevax coronavirus preventive shots.

Moderna said Thursday that its cost of sales jumped nearly a billion dollars to $1.9 billion in the final quarter of 2022. That included a $400-million “catch-up” payment to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for a new agreement on future royalty sales of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Moderna scientists and government researchers worked together to develop the COVID-19 vaccine at the start of the pandemic.