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Despite this week's climb, shares of Moderna have lost about a third of their value this year so farShares of Moderna surged to lead S&P 500 gainers in early afternoon trading Tuesday, hours after the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued new guidance for COVID-19 vaccine boosters for healthy Americans under age 65.
FDA Commissioner Marty Makary and Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research director Vinay Prasad wrote in The New England Journal of Medicine that the agency's "new Covid-19 philosophy represents a balance of regulatory flexibility and a commitment to gold-standard science. The FDA will approve vaccines for high-risk persons and, at the same time, demand robust, gold-standard data on persons at low risk."
Dr. Prasad and Dr. Makary added that "for all healthy persons—those with no risk factors for severe Covid-19—between the ages of 6 months and 64 years, the FDA anticipates the need for randomized, controlled trial data evaluating clinical outcomes before Biologics License Applications can be granted."
The expected uptick in new trials benefited shares of vaccine producers Tuesday. In addition to Moderna's nearly 8% gains Tuesday, U.S.-listed shares of BioNTech (BNTX) advanced about 4%, and Pfizer (PFE) stock rose 2%.
Despite having risen nearly 20% over the past three sessions, shares of Moderna have lost about a third of their value this year.
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