WASHINGTON - Moderna has long been a darling of investors but it wasn't until the coronavirus pandemic came along that the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based biotech company could prove the value of its new vaccine technology and mint some new billionaires.
Frenchman Stephane Bancel, 48, who has served as chief executive officer of Moderna since 2011, became a billionaire in April, when the very preliminary results of clinical trials on a Covid-19 vaccine were first published. In 2018, Moderna set a record for an initial public offering by a biotech firm, raising more than $600 million.
Moderna uses synthetic versions of molecules called "messenger RNA" to hack into human cells and effectively turn them into vaccine-making factories. But Moderna quickly pivoted to addressing viruses and several clinical trials are taking place involving the Zika virus, Epstein-Barr and others.