Modern records (mRNA) fell more than 9% on Wednesday, giving up most of Tuesday’s gains in a volatile week for stocks seen after the first bird flu death reported in the USwhich focused his development of a vaccine.

Shares jumped more than 10% on Tuesday before reversing course early Wednesday. Over the past five trading sessions, shares have risen about 4%.

In July 2024, Moderna was awarded $176 million from the US government to advance the development of its H5N1 (bird flu) mRNA vaccine, which is in the early stages of testing. The award came after an outbreak of the virus in cows infected three dairy workers, prompting concerns of an outbreak in humans.

As of January, there have been 66 confirmed cases of H5N1 in the U.S. by 2024, the CDC said Monday.

“CDC has carefully reviewed the available information about the person who died in Louisiana and continues to assess that the risk to the general public remains low,” the federal public health agency said. “However, people with occupational or recreational exposures to infected birds or other animals are at increased risk of infection.”

After Moderna’s development of a vaccine against COVID-19 fueled a massive increase in revenue, which rose more than 2,000% in 2021 from a year earlier, the vaccine maker. making their first profit — the company has spread in a post-pandemic world. Moderna’s revenue fell 64% to just under $7 billion in 2023 (well below the $18.5 billion in reported sales in 2020), and the company posted a loss of roughly $12 per share .

Wall Street analysts tracked by Bloomberg expect the company to report a loss of just over $9 a share for fiscal 2024 and for sales to halve from a year earlier.

Even with this week’s rally, Moderna shares are down nearly 60% over the past year. More than half of the analysts tracked by Yahoo Finance have a Hold rating on the stock, but on average they see the stock rising to $74 over the next 12 months, implying a 56% gain from their current level

Shares of other companies developing an mRNA vaccine against bird flu also rose on news of the bird flu’s death. shares of Novavax (NVAX) rose nearly 11% on Tuesday. German biotech company CureVac (CVAC) increased by more than 4%.

CureVac is developing an mRNA vaccine against bird flu in collaboration with pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline of London (GLAXO.GO). shares of Pfizer (PFE) rose a much more modest 0.9%, while GSK itself fell 1%.

An uptick in cases of COVID-19 reported by the CDC also helped shore up vaccine makers earlier this week.

Laura Bratton is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Bluesky @laurabratton.bsky.social. Email her at [email protected].

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