Do we like them?

Do we like Moderna?

Makes mRNA vaccines and medicines, including the Spikevax COVID-19 vaccine and a cancer vaccine; based in Massachusetts, US.

Our score: 6 out of 10. Real science and a promising cancer vaccine, but heavy job cuts, a $2.25bn patent settlement and a shrinking vaccine pipeline. We'd back them cautiously, not happily.

Moderna is a Massachusetts biotech built around mRNA technology. Stéphane Bancel has been CEO since October 2011, having previously run the French diagnostics firm bioMérieux. It became a household name with its COVID-19 vaccine, Spikevax, and now says it has a pipeline of dozens of candidates across infectious disease, cancer and rare diseases.

Life after COVID has been tough. In 2025 Moderna said it would cut about 10% of its workforce, around 5,000 jobs, as part of a plan to trim roughly $1.5bn off annual costs by 2027. Its own proxy statement says it cut annual operating costs by about $2.2bn in 2025. Its filings say it has since wound down several late-stage programmes, including flu+COVID, CMV and norovirus.

Politics hasn't helped. In May 2025 the US health department cancelled a $590m bird-flu vaccine contract, saying continued investment wasn't "scientifically or ethically justifiable". Moderna had just reported strong early trial data for that vaccine. Moderna also said it received a Refusal-to-File letter from the FDA over its seasonal flu vaccine and asked for a meeting to understand the way forward.

On the legal side, in March 2026 Moderna settled the long-running Arbutus/Genevant patent case. It paid $950m upfront, with up to $1.3bn more depending on an appeal, and agreed to a judgment of infringement on four patents. The bright spot is cancer: the Merck-partnered melanoma vaccine cut the risk of death or recurrence by 42% in a late-stage trial. We'd call it a decent, risky bet, so 6/10.