By Julie Steenhuysen
May 1 (Reuters) - Moderna surpassed Wall Street estimates for first-quarter revenue on Friday, helped by better-than-expected sales of its COVID-19 vaccine in international markets, sending its shares up nearly 5% in premarket trading.
International revenue came in at $311 million, versus $78 million in U.S. markets, as the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based company leveraged partnerships in the UK, Canada and Australia.
"So our story has really become a more balanced international
versus U.S. story," Moderna Chief Financial Officer Jamey Mock said in an interview with Reuters.
Sweeping changes to U.S. vaccine policy under Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime anti-vaccine activist, have led to reduced vaccine use and reshaped the regulatory landscape for companies developing new shots.
"We hope much of that is behind us," Mock said, adding that the company is looking for a more stable COVID market in 2026 in the U.S.
The vaccine maker posted first-quarter revenue of $389 million, up $281 million from a year earlier and exceeding analysts' average estimate of nearly $228 million, according to data compiled by LSEG.
Moderna has secured an August 5 decision date from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for its mRNA-based flu vaccine, having resolved a dispute with the regulator, which initially rejected the company's application citing flaws in trial design.
The company is expanding beyond infectious disease as demand for COVID vaccines eases in the post-pandemic era, with key late-stage date expected for a norovirus vaccine, a promising individualized cancer vaccine called intismeran that it is developing with partner Merck, and a treatment for a rare metabolic disorder called propionic acidemia.
Moderna reiterated its 2026 forecast, announced in February, for revenue growth of up to 10% compared with a year ago, with roughly half of its revenue coming from the U.S., down from 62% last year.
The company reported a quarterly net loss per share of $3.40, which included $2.22 in charges related to the settlement of a patent dispute with Roivant Sciences' unit Genevant and Arbutus Biopharma over the lipid nanoparticle technology used in its COVID shot.
It had posted a loss of $2.52 per share a year earlier, while analysts expected a loss of $3.96 per share.
(Reporting by Siddhi Mahatole and Mariam Sunny in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar)
