Moderna sharpens focus on $1.5bn cost cutting plan after 41% revenue slump
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. Analysts call the revenue drop driven by dipping Covid vaccine sales ‘unsurprising’.
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.
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.
