Moderna says vaccines for cancer, heart disease could be ready by 2030

Published

2 years ago

April 9, 2023

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A pharmaceutical firm that produced a leading Covid-19 jab said vaccines against cancer as well as cardiovascular and autoimmune diseases can be ready by 2030, which could potentially save millions of lives.

Modernas chief medical officer Paul Burton believes the company will be able to offer vaccines for all sorts of disease areas in as little as five years.

Studies into the vaccines have shown tremendous promise, Dr Burton told British newspaper The Guardian, adding that his company is developing cancer vaccines that target different tumour types.

We will have that vaccine, and it will be highly effective, and it will save many hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of lives. I think we will be able to offer personalised cancer vaccines against multiple different tumour types to people around the world, he said.

Cardiovascular diseases and cancer are a leading cause of death worldwide, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

An estimated 17.9 million people died of cardiovascular diseases in 2019, said WHO, while cancer accounted for nearly 10 million deaths in 2020, or nearly one in six deaths.

Dr Burton also told The Guardian that multiple respiratory infections could be covered by a single injection.

This would allow vulnerable people to be protected against Covid-19, flu and respiratory syncytial virus a virus that causes mild, cold-like symptoms.

Meanwhile, Dr Burton said messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) therapies could be available for rare diseases for which there are currently no drugs.

I think we will have mRNA-based therapies for rare diseases that were previously undruggable, and I think that 10 years from now, we will be approaching a world where you truly can identify the genetic cause of a disease and, with relative simplicity, go and edit that out and repair it using mRNA-based technology.

Vaccines based on mRNA teach cells to make a protein to prompt an immune response.

Moderna and drugmaker Pfizer-BioNTech were the first to use the technology to create the mRNA vaccines used to fight Covid-19.

Dr Burton attributed the progress of the vaccines to advancement in the field of mRNA, with some experts saying that 15 years of progress are now in the final stretches due to the quick roll-out of the Covid-19 jabs.

I think what we have learnt in recent months is that if you ever thought that mRNA was just for infectious diseases, or just for Covid-19, the evidence now is that thats absolutely not the case, The Guardian quoted him as saying.

It can be applied to all sorts of disease areas; we are in cancer, infectious disease, cardiovascular disease, autoimmune diseases, rare disease. We have studies in all of those areas, and they have all shown tremendous promise. More On This Topic MOH supporting development of mRNA cancer vaccines in Singapore Moderna, Merck see positive results from skin cancer vaccine In December 2022, Moderna and pharmaceutical company MSD announced that an mRNA cancer vaccine they are jointly developing reduced cancer recurrence or death in melanoma patients by 44 per cent in a phase two clinical trial.

Scientists said a high level of investment is needed to maintain the progress.

Professor Andrew Pollard, a director of the Oxford Vaccine Group and chair of Britains Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, said it was important not to lose sight of the threat of a new pandemic.

If you take a step back to think about what we are prepared to invest in during peacetime, like having a substantial military for most countries… Pandemics are as much a threat, if not more, than a military threat because we know they are going to happen as a certainty from where we are today. But were not investing even the amount that it would cost to build one nuclear submarine, he told The Guardian.

Business

Tesla looks to cheaper model as revenue suffers worst drop in over a decade

Published

3 hours ago

July 23, 2025

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Tesla looks to cheaper model as revenue suffers worst drop in over a decade

Tesla has started limited production on a cheaper model in a bid to boost sluggish demand after revealing its worst slump in quarterly sales for over a decade.

The electric carmaker, effectively run part-time by founder and CEO Elon Musk for much of this year after his now-defunct spell at the heart of Donald Trump’s government, reported a 12% drop in revenues over the second quarter of the year.

Its update showed a total of $22.5bn, despite aggressive discounting and low-cost financing put in place to help shield Tesla from many headwinds.

They include strong competition from cheaper electric vehicles and a backlash against Musk’s former political alignment with the president.

Sales and profits came in lower than analysts had predicted.

Tesla said it was looking to ramp up production of the more affordable model during the second half of this year.

It gave no further details but it is a nod to investor concerns that the appeal of Tesla’s range is restricted when compared to that of competitors.

The results were the first for shareholders to digest since the so-called bromance between Mr Musk and Donald Trump ended acrimoniously in June.

Tesla’s shares remain almost 18% down over the year to date – lagging a recovery among rivals – and were flat in extended trading.

The drag can mainly be explained by the 2025 sales slowdown, Tesla’s particular exposure to the president’s trade war and the often violent backlash against Musk’s former role in the Trump administration which enacted big cuts to federal government spending.

Globally, customers have been put off by interference by Musk in national elections, particularly in Germany, and stiff competition from cheaper alternatives to Tesla’s electric car ranges.

While his departure from Washington allowed the tech tycoon to focus more on his vast business ventures, his beef with the president over the cost of the Big Beautiful tax and spending Bill has left Tesla exposed to retaliation from the White House.

Recent analysis by Sky News showed the extent to which the company’s profitability is threatened through the potential loss of billions of dollars in government subsidies – a sanction threatened by the president.

The latest set of results showed a steady income from these so-called regulatory credits, amounting to $435m between April and June. That was down from the $458m reported for the same period last year.

Tesla had revealed earlier this month that production and deliveries covering the quarter were below expectations.

A total of 384,122 Teslas were delivered in the period, a 13.5% fall on the same period last year.

It marked the second consecutive quarterly sales decline and were not helped by the changeover to the refreshed Model Y.

One other thing investors were eagerly awaiting news on was the supervised self-driving Robotaxi trial – launched last month in Texas.

Videos have since suggested some evident driving mistakes.

Musk has previously said the service would soon reach the San Francisco Bay Area, depending on regulatory approvals, and no update was given on whether papers had yet been filed.

Bloomberg News reported earlier on Wednesday that the company was in talks about operating a Robotaxi service in Nevada.

Technology

IBM shares drop despite earnings beat

Published

3 hours ago

July 23, 2025

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IBM CEO Arvind Krishna appears at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan. 16, 2024.

Stefan Wermuth | Bloomberg | Getty Images

IBM shares fell as much as 5% in extended trading on Wednesday after the tech conglomerate issued second-quarter results that topped Wall Street projections.

Here’s how the company did in comparison with LSEG consensus:

Earnings per share: $2.80 adjusted vs. $2.64 expected
Revenue: $16.98 billion vs. $16.59 billion

IBM’s revenue increased nearly 8% year over year in the quarter, according to a statement. Growth in the first quarter was below 1%. Net income, which includes costs related to acquisitions, rose to $2.19 billion, or $2.31 per share, from $1.83 billion, or $1.96 per share, a year ago.

Software revenue climbed about 10% to $7.39 billion, exceeding the $7.43 billion consensus among analysts surveyed by StreetAccount. Hybrid cloud revenue, including Red Hat, showed 16% growth. The software unit’s gross margin of 83.9% was barely narrower than StreetAccount’s 84.0% consensus.

Revenue from consulting rose almost 3% to $5.31 billion, higher than StreetAccount’s $5.16 billion consensus. Infrastructure revenue went up 14% to $4.14 billion, above the $3.75 billion StreetAccount average estimate.

During the quarter, IBM announced the next-generation z17 mainframe computer and the acquisition of data and artificial intelligence consulting firm Hakkoda.

IBM called for over $13.5 billion in 2025 free cash flow, similar to a projection from April. The company still sees at least 5% revenue growth at constant currency for the year.

As of Wednesday’s close, IBM shares were up 28% so far in 2025, while the S&P 500 index has gained around 8% in the same period.

Executives will discuss the results with analysts on a conference call starting at 5 p.m. ET.

This is breaking news. Please check back for updates.

WATCH: Cramer’s Stop Trading: IBM

Environment

Tesla (TSLA) releases Q2 2025 financing results: earnings down 23%

Published

3 hours ago

July 23, 2025

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Tesla (TSLA) releases Q2 2025 financing results: earnings down 23%

Tesla (TSLA) released its financial results and shareholders’ letter for the second quarter (Q2) 2025 after market close today.

We are updating this post with all the details from the financial results, shareholders’ letter, and the conference call later tonight. Refresh for the latest information.

Tesla Q2 2025 earnings expectations

As we reported in our Tesla Q2 2025 earnings preview yesterday, the Wall Street consensus for this quarter was $22.279 billion in revenue and earnings of $0.40 per share.

The expectations had been significantly downgraded over the last month, as analysts were surprised by Tesla’s announcement of much lower deliveries than expected in the first quarter.

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How did Tesla do compared to expectations?

Tesla Q2 2025 financial results

After the market closed today, Tesla released its financial results for the first quarter and confirmed that it delivered on expectations with earnings of $0.40 per share (non-GAAP), and it exceeded revenue expectations with $22.496 billion during the last quarter.

Tesla’s earnings per share are down 23% year-over-year amid a booming EV market.

Operating income decreased 42% year-over-year to now less than $1 billion, and almost half of it came from regulatory credits.

Tesla’s cash on hand has decreased this quarter for the first time in years. The company lost about $200 million of its giant war chest – now sitting at $36.8 billion.

We will be posting our follow-up posts here about the earnings and conference call to expand on the most important points (refresh the page to see the most recent posts):

Here’s Tesla’s Q2 2025 shareholder presentation in full:

Here’s Tesla’s conference call for the Q2 2025 results:

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