Moderna has set its sights on gaining a strong position in the private Covid vaccine market in the United States, where a single Covid-19 shot could cost as much as $100.
The mRNA specialist has been plotting its growth beyond the pandemic for quite a while, but it still wants to establish an unbeatable market presence with regard to U.S. Covid-19 vaccines. Keeping this in mind, the Boston-based company recently revealed its lofty ambitions to take full advantage of the coronavirus shots’ commercial opportunity in the country.
As part of its R & D, Moderna put together a special slide show discussing its future endeavors and plan of action with regard to the Covid vaccines. Among other things, the company noted that the worldwide Covid-19 vaccination market is worth upwards of $100 billion globally. If 50% of the U.S. adult population – which is around 258 million people – receives an annual shot, Moderna and Pfizer stand to gain nearly $13 billion annually. However, this figure depends on whether the company would succeed in its plans to raise the vaccine shot price up to $100. This price point would be nearly six times more than the initial payment by the U.S. government for the first doses.
During the meeting, Moderna also presented scenarios based on lower prices of the vaccine shot. If priced at a more modest $64, the vaccine shots would gain about $8.3 billion, while a price of $82 would open up potential private markets worth over $10.5 billion. The company figured the high-risk populace of the US is somewhere around 82 million people, a figure that could generate sales of $8.2 billion with a $100 price tag.
While Moderna’s touted price of $100 – or even $64 – is at quite a distance from the $16.5 it charged for each Covid-19 shot earlier in the pandemic, it’s important to note that it actually aligns, more or less, with the prices of other vaccines in the country. To compare, the mumps and measles shot at CVS costs around $135 before discounts. Meanwhile, a typical seasonal flu jab costs $50, with high-dose offerings hovering around the $100-mark.
According to the 2023 projections by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the projected cost of a Covid-19 vaccine shot is $64 with an additional $40 administration charge. So Moderna’s range of prices aligns with that as well.
Arpa Garay, the biotech company’s Chief Commercial Officer, predicted that the Covid vaccine market will soon begin to match the prices of the flu shot market. He considers this an inevitability, noting that there’s a high likelihood of Covid boosters becoming an annual affair. “Our current pricing approach with governments was in a pandemic setting; as we head to the commercial market, we’ll be looking at a more value-based pricing,” he said to investors in the meeting.
Last year, Moderna sold over 800 million doses of its Covid vaccine, generating sales of nearly $18 billion. This represented a staggering increase over its sales in 2020, which amounted to $803 million.
