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Moderna has a game-changing drug pipeline for 2023, according to Jefferies. Analyst Michael Yee upgraded Moderna to buy from hold, saying a promising new cancer vaccine from the pharmaceutical company has renewed interest in the stock. “We upgrade MRNA to BUY on significant new pipeline story and catalysts ahead. The Covid vaccine story is old and numbers came way down already and most investors don’t care much on this anymore. New story is now PCV cancer vaccine opportunity, Phase III RSV data coming up, doublet and triplet virus vaccines in 2023,” Yee wrote in a Monday note. “We see stock rebounding back up in 2023, a return of pipeline opportunities and a ‘story stock’ as generalist and HC interest revisits the stock,” Yee added. Shares of Moderna are off by more than 23% in 2022 — compared to the S & P 500’s 19% decline — as investors move on from the impact Covid has on the vaccine maker. However, shares surged more than 19% last week following an announcement of an experimental melanoma vaccine that, when combined with Merck ‘s cancer treatment Keytruda, reduced the risk of skin cancer recurrence or death by 44%. This is compared with a treatment of only Keytruda. “We see stock going back up in 2023 on: 1) new PCV cancer story is the “new shiny thing” and a new chapter starting to play out; partner Merck is very excited, will start lots of new studies including adjuvant lung cancer, and PCV could work in many cancers towards a $5-10B+ franchise; MRK and MRNA will run tons of studies where Keytruda works as MRK seeks to bolster PD1 franchise,” Yee wrote. The analyst’s $275 price target, raised from $170, implies roughly 42% upside from Friday’s closing price. The stock is up 4% in Monday premarket trading. —CNBC’s Michael Bloom contributed to this report.
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