Moderna Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA) saw its share price climb to a new four-year high on Thursday, as investors cheered news that it was exploring investment opportunities in the Middle East.
In intra-day trading, the stock climbed to a record high of $195.71 before trimming gains to finish the session just up by 6.98 percent at $194.82 apiece.
For illustration purposes only. Photo by Gustavo Fring on Pexels
High-Profile Meeting
The rally followed a high-profile meeting between Moderna Inc. Chairman Noubar Afeyan and UAE Minister of State, Saeed bin Mubarak Al Hajeri, who also chairs the Emirates Drug Establishments (EDE) to discuss investment and cooperation opportunities in advanced pharmaceutical industries.
During the meeting, the two parties discussed collaboration on research and development, exchanging expertise and knowledge, and strengthening the UAE’s pharmaceutical manufacturing capabilities to support its base of high-value scientific and industrial activities.
The meeting builds upon the United States and the UAE’s strategic partnership, which aims to expand cooperation between the private sector and global companies in priority industries.
For Moderna Inc., any execution of plans would significantly strengthen its long-term financial stability, expand its footprint in the Middle East, and diversify its revenue streams.
INTerpath-001 Trial
Aside from investments, investors are also on the sidelines ahead of Moderna Inc.’s updated readout on its INTerpath-001 trial for its melanoma treatment candidate, intismeran autogene, in combination with Merck’s Keytruda.
Data will be presented at the upcoming European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress 2026 in Madrid, Spain, from October 23 to 27, 2026.
It can be recalled that Moderna and Merck partnered for the development of a therapy to treat the most common type of skin cancer through the combination of intismeran autogene with Keytruda.
The third phase of the clinical trial achieved the primary endpoint of recurrence-free survival (RFS) and the key secondary target of distant metastasis-free survival (DMFS).
It marked the first positive readout from a phase 3 clinical trial for a combination of individualized neoantigen therapy (INT) and mRNA-based cancer therapy, as well as the first phase 3 study to demonstrate a clinically meaningful improvement over Keytruda alone.
Huge Addressable Market
For investors, the readout was a significant milestone for its huge addressable market and revenue growth potential.
According to Moderna Inc., the US alone is expected to register 112,000 new cases of melanoma by the end of the year, with 8,500 deaths resulting from the disease.
Melanoma is responsible for a large majority of skin cancer deaths. In 2022 alone, some 330,000 cases were diagnosed globally, making it one of the most common types of cancer diagnosed.
Strong Hedge Fund Conviction
Institutional conviction appeared to have strengthened for Moderna Inc. in the second quarter of the year despite some hedge funds exiting the company during the period.
Data from Insider Monkey showed that during the quarter, 49 hedge funds held positions in the stock, lower than the 52 in the first quarter of the year.
However, their combined holdings increased by 10 percent to $1.5 billion from $1.4 billion quarter-on-quarter, signaling that existing investors are increasing their exposure amid optimism about its long-term growth trajectory.
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