Moderna Shares Soar on Momentum and Short Squeeze
Moderna Inc shares surged by 9.5% in morning trading on Thursday, extending a multi-week rally tied to the company's shift from COVID-19 vaccines to personalized cancer treatment.
The gains occurred without any new company announcements, suggesting that the increase is driven by momentum buying and a short-squeeze dynamic as the stock rebounds from a pullback that had taken it below its 52-week high of $176.66.
The rally follows positive results from the Phase 3 INTerpath-001 trial, where Moderna's individualized mRNA cancer vaccine, intismeran, combined with Merck's Keytruda, extended recurrence-free survival in over 1,100 patients with high-risk melanoma compared to Keytruda alone.
The trial marked the first positive Phase 3 result for a personalized mRNA cancer vaccine.