NEW YORK: Moderna on Thursday cut its 2024 sales forecast for COVID-19 and respiratory syncytial virus vaccines by up to 25%, or $1 billion, due partly to low COVID sales to the EU that it expects to continue into 2026.

The vaccine maker’s shares plunged more than 15% to $101.01, taking the company’s market value to $38.71 billion. It had peaked at nearly $200 billion at the height of the COVID pandemic in August 2021.

Moderna said the full-year forecast cut was also due to potential revenue deferrals for some international COVID sales into 2025 and an increasingly competitive environment for COVID and RSV vaccines in the US The company had previously said it expected roughly $4 billion in sales for the year, which was already the lowest figure for annual revenue since it launched its COVID vaccine in late 2020 - the company’s first commercial product.