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In the heat of the COVID-19 crisis, a wave of vaccine companies stepped into the spotlight with unprecedented speed and visibility. Riding a surge of public and private funding, they raced to develop vaccines and therapeutics that could curb a once-in-a-century global emergency. While pharma giants like AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson also played prominent roles, much of the momentum and risk was carried by smaller biotech players suddenly thrown onto the global stage. For a brief moment, it seemed like these companies might reshape the pharmaceutical landscape for good.
Fast forward to 2025, and the picture is far more complex.
Some, like Moderna and BioNTech, used the momentum to build expansive pipelines beyond COVID-19, branching into cancer, flu, RSV, and other diseases. Others, however, are now scaling down, pivoting, or fading from view entirely. Just this month, companies including GeoVax, CastleVax, and Vaxart revealed they were told to halt their government-backed work on next-generation COVID vaccines under the Biden-era Project NextGen, casting doubt on the long-term strategic value of these initiatives. Although the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has said the stop-work orders are temporary, the broader message is clear: the era of fast-tracked COVID funding and attention may be over.
This article takes stock of the biotech surge born from the pandemic. Which companies managed to transform short-term success into long-term vision? Who struggled to adapt once the urgency faded?
Table of contents
Moderna
Moderna was among the biotech companies that rose to prominence during the pandemic, playing a central role in the global vaccination effort. When Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine crossed the finish line in late 2020, it was more than a victory over the virus — it marked a turning point for mRNA technology itself. Although well known in biotech circles, Moderna had never brought a product to market before the pandemic. Its vaccine helped drive global immunization efforts alongside Pfizer and BioNTech, and catapulted the company into public awareness almost overnight.
Since then, Moderna has been working to prove it wasn’t just a pandemic success story. The company has leaned heavily on its mRNA platform to build a broader pipeline, hoping to show that the technology can do more than fight a single virus. In 2024, it scored a second approval with mRESVIA, a vaccine designed to protect older adults from respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). Early trial data suggested strong protection against severe illness, positioning the shot as part of a new seasonal vaccine strategy alongside COVID-19 and flu boosters.
Moderna has also moved into cancer treatment, partnering with Merck on a personalized vaccine that trains the immune system to recognize the unique mutations in a patient’s tumor. Early results in melanoma were promising enough to push the program into phase 3 development.
Despite the progress, Moderna still faces a familiar challenge for pandemic-era biotechs: moving beyond COVID-19 revenue dependence. In 2023, Moderna reported total revenues of $6.8 billion, a significant decrease from $19.3 billion in 2022. This decline was primarily due to a reduction in sales of its COVID-19 vaccine.
Moderna has acknowledged the challenges posed by shifting dynamics in the COVID-19 and RSV vaccine markets, which have tested its commercial strategies and necessitated a reassessment of its financial framework. Whether its bet on mRNA across infectious disease and oncology can deliver a sustainable business remains one of the big questions facing the company.
BioNTech
Alongside Moderna, BioNTech helped bring mRNA technology into the public eye during the pandemic. Partnering with Pfizer, the German biotech developed one of the first authorized COVID-19 vaccines, contributing to mRNA’s rise as a new platform for modern medicine. But while Moderna leaned heavily into expanding its infectious disease pipeline, BioNTech has spent much of its post-pandemic effort returning to its original ambition: using mRNA to fight cancer.
Before COVID-19, BioNTech was primarily focused on oncology, and today it is investing heavily to fulfill that early vision. The company is advancing a broad portfolio of cancer therapies, from personalized mRNA vaccines that encode neoantigens unique to each patient’s tumor, to off-the-shelf immunotherapies designed for wider populations. Its collaboration with Genentech moved a personalized vaccine for head and neck cancers into phase 2 development, and BioNTech is running more than 20 phase 2 and 3 clinical trials across a range of solid tumors.
That ambition comes with high costs. As COVID-19 vaccine sales declined sharply, BioNTech reported €2.8 billion ($3.2 billion) in revenue for 2024, and posted a net loss of €700 million ($796 million) last year. Much of the spending reflects its aggressive expansion into oncology research and manufacturing. The COVID-19 partnership with Pfizer continues to generate significant revenues, but like Moderna, BioNTech knows this income will taper over time.
Beyond cancer, BioNTech is exploring mRNA vaccines for malaria, tuberculosis, and shingles, though most of these programs are still early-stage. It is also partnering with Pfizer on a combined COVID-19 and influenza vaccine, although the phase 3 trial did not meet its primary endpoint. The two companies are evaluating adjustments to the candidate.
While Pfizer wasn’t transformed by COVID in the way smaller vaccine companies were, the BioNTech partnership gave it one of the most lucrative products in its history, even as the company now faces a broader revenue decline post-pandemic.
Novavax
Novavax entered the COVID-19 vaccine race with a distinctive approach, developing a protein-based vaccine that offered an alternative to the mRNA vaccines produced by Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech. Despite securing Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in July 2022, the company faced significant challenges in gaining market share, primarily due to the earlier availability and widespread adoption of mRNA vaccines.
Financially, Novavax has faced significant challenges. In early 2023, the company issued a press release indicating doubts about its ability to continue operations without securing additional funding. This announcement followed a substantial decline in revenue and stock value. A subsequent partnership with Sanofi in 2024 provided some financial relief, including a $175 million milestone payment contingent upon FDA approval of Novavax’s COVID-19 vaccine.
However, in an effort to transition from EUA to full FDA approval for its COVID vaccine, the company encountered regulatory hurdles. This week, Reuters reported that the FDA requested additional data to demonstrate the vaccine’s efficacy. This requirement deviated from the precedent set for mRNA vaccines, where updated formulations did not necessitate new large-scale trials. The unexpected demand for further studies led to delays in the approval process and contributed to financial strain on the company.
Despite these setbacks, Novavax continues to pursue full FDA approval for its COVID-19 vaccine. The company’s protein-based vaccine platform remains a focal point of its strategy to establish a foothold in the competitive vaccine market. However, the combination of regulatory delays and financial difficulties raises doubts about whether Novavax will be able to translate its scientific efforts into commercial success.
CureVac
Once a frontrunner in mRNA vaccine development, the German company faced significant setbacks that reshaped its strategic direction.
In June 2021, CureVac announced that its first-generation COVID-19 vaccine candidate, CVnCoV, demonstrated only 47% efficacy in a phase 2b/3 trial, falling short of the efficacy levels achieved by competitors like Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna. This disappointing result led to the discontinuation of CVnCoV’s development and a reevaluation of the company’s approach to mRNA technology.
In response, CureVac intensified its collaboration with GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), focusing on the development of next-generation mRNA vaccines. This partnership culminated in a significant restructuring in July 2024, wherein GSK acquired full rights to develop, manufacture, and commercialize CureVac’s mRNA vaccine candidates for influenza and COVID-19. The deal included an upfront payment of €400 million ($455 million) and potential milestone payments up to €1.05 billion ($1.2 billion).
The agreement allowed CureVac to streamline its operations and redirect its focus toward oncology. However, this strategic pivot was accompanied by substantial organizational changes, including a workforce reduction of approximately 30% to reduce operating costs by €25 million ($28.4 million). These measures were part of a broader effort to extend the company’s financial runway and concentrate on high-value mRNA pipeline opportunities.
While it didn’t have the success it expected in the fight against COVID, some brighter days might be ahead for CureVac in oncology. Indeed, in April 2025, CureVac received clearance from the FDA to initiate a phase 1 clinical trial for a novel mRNA-based precision immunotherapy targeting squamous non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). This investigational therapy, CVHNLC, comprises two mRNA constructs encoding a total of eight tumor-associated antigens, combining both established and novel targets identified through AI-powered platforms.
Valneva
While mRNA platforms dominated the conversation, Valneva developed VLA2001, the only inactivated, adjuvanted whole-virus COVID-19 vaccine to receive EU marketing authorization in 2022, but the timing still worked against it. By the time it was approved, most European countries had already secured sufficient doses from Pfizer and Moderna, and public demand was waning. Contracts were canceled, and Valneva’s shot struggled to find a foothold in the crowded market.
Rather than doubling down, Valneva redirected its focus toward areas where competition was less intense and where it had already built momentum. Its most notable success came with IXCHIQ, a single-dose chikungunya vaccine, which received FDA approval in November 2023. It was the first approved chikungunya vaccine in the world. The company also received a positive opinion from the European Medicines Agency in early 2024.
However, recent developments have presented challenges. A few days ago, French health authorities temporarily suspended the use of IXCHIQ in adults aged 65 and older following reports of serious adverse events, including one death, during a vaccination campaign in La Réunion. Valneva is cooperating with the investigation and supports the precautionary measures taken.
Valneva is now positioning itself as a specialist in travel and endemic infectious disease vaccines, with active programs targeting Lyme disease, in collaboration with Pfizer, the Zika virus, and others. The company is also making restructuring efforts to streamline operations and prioritize its commercial-stage assets.
While the company’s COVID-19 vaccine effort didn’t deliver the breakthrough some had hoped for, Valneva has managed to carve out a sustainable role in the vaccine space, less visible than the mRNA giants, but not without impact.
Not everyone stayed in the game
While a few COVID-era vaccine companies have managed to stay in the public eye or reinvent themselves, others have found it harder to adapt. Inovio, for example, once touted its DNA vaccine platform as a game-changing alternative to mRNA. After delays and setbacks, it has shifted its focus toward therapeutic areas like cervical dysplasia and HPV-related cancers, but with far less visibility than during the pandemic. Other companies, like Vaxart and GeoVax, saw promising programs stall under Project NextGen’s stop-work orders. And some, like CastleVax, are attempting to stay the course with internal funding or alternative disease targets, but with uncertain prospects.
The COVID-19 crisis was a rare high-stakes moment for biotech — a race run at unprecedented speed, where risk and reward were both off the charts. For some companies, it was a breakthrough: mRNA platforms that had never reached the market suddenly became global mainstays, and early movers like Moderna and BioNTech used the spotlight to build something lasting.
But not everyone crossed that finish line the same way. Others faced harsh reality checks — scientific setbacks, regulatory roadblocks, or simply bad timing. In hindsight, the pandemic didn’t just reward bold innovation; it exposed the difference between having a promising idea and having the foundations to carry it forward. The companies that remain relevant today are the ones that managed to turn a fleeting opportunity into a long-term strategy, not just a sprint, but the start of something more.
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