Moderna and Merck extend partnership

Merck & Co. announced that it will take the opportunity to maintain their partnership with Covid-19 vaccine maker Moderna Inc. The company wants to continue collaboration on a cancer vaccine using matrix RNAi. After this Merck & Co. announcement, the biotech company's stocks reached a two-month high.

Collaboration with Moderna to develop and commercialize the vaccine in the future will cost Merck $250 million. The vaccine is currently undergoing an interim stage of testing as a treatment for high-risk melanoma.

Merck and Moderna first entered into an agreement in 2016. It concerns the Moderna mRNA-4157/V940 cancer vaccine. Testing of the experimental vaccine in tandem with Merck's cancer blockbuster Keytruda has earned more than $17 billion last year, and it's not over yet.

Michael Yee from Jefferies suggested that Merck received enough research data to make a decision on signing the agreement and is ready to pay $250 million. According to Edward Tenthoff, a senior analyst at Piper Sandler, the statements from Moderna and Merck are a positive signal, as the results of this quarter's clinical tests will be known soon. He also confirmed Moderna's stock rating and target price of $214.

The notice says that Yee thinks investors should be excited because Merck is going to pay such a large sum.

According to Moderna's president, Stephen Hoge, the collaborative work with Merck continues and is important because the company's mRNA platform will continue to develop with high potential clinical programs in various therapeutic areas.