Moderna�s fourth-quarter profit tumbled 70% as COVID-19 vaccine sales fell and the drugmaker caught up on a royalty payment.

Moderna said Thursday that its cost of sales jumped nearly a billion dollars to $1.9 billion in the final quarter of 2022. That included a $400 million payment to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases tied to a new license agreement started in December.

The drugmaker�s profit fell to $1.46 billion, or $3.61 per share.

Total revenue dropped 29%to $5.08 billion.

Analysts expected earnings of $4.60 per share on $5.02 billion in revenue, according to FactSet.

Moderna�s Spikevax is the company�s main source of revenue, outside of grants and money from collaborations.

The company had said last month that it recorded $18.4 billion in sales from its COVID-19 vaccine last year, and it expects about $5 billion in 2023.

Shares of Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Moderna Inc. slipped 1% to $156 in premarket trading.

(AP)