Gene therapy and vaccine makers fall after FDA names Vinay Prasad as top vaccine official

Solid Biosciences

06/05/2025 20:29

Updates

** Shares of vaccine maker Moderna MRNA.O and gene therapy developers fall, after the U.S. FDA named Vinay Prasad as the director of its Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER)

** Prasad, a fierce critic of COVID-19 vaccine and mask mandates, will succeed Peter Marks to oversee the regulation of vaccines and gene therapies

** Prasad "counters previous ideologies of Peter Marks" and views the decision as a "net negative for the BioPharma sector" - Evan Seigerman, BMO Capital Markets analyst

     ** Shares of Moderna down 11.4%, Novavax NVAX.O down 3.1%, while Pfizer PFE.N, previously down after an announcement on medicine costs, extends losses to 3.7%

** Shares of gene therapy developers: Sarepta Therapeutics SRPT.O down 22.9%, Taysha Gene Therapies TSHA.O down 24.6% and Capricor Therapeutics CAPR.O down 25%

** U.S.-listed shares of CRISPR Therapeutics CRSP.BN down 11.3%, Solid Biosciences SLDB.O down 19.2% and Neurogene NGNE.O down 14.4%

** MRNA down 41.3% and SRPT down 61.1%, YTD

(Reporting by Christy Santhosh)

((Christy.Santhosh@thomsonreuters.com))