Below are five key steps on Moderna took on its journey to vaccine success:
- Moderna was founded by scientists from two Cambridge, Mass.-based universities, Harvard and MIT. The company’s focus was always on building mRNA technology for medical use, and it licensed a slightly modified version of mRNA that two researchers from the Philadelphia-based University of Pennsylvania developed to generate a more controlled immune response in the body.
- During the company’s early years, it focused on developing therapeutics, including programs for cancer and heart disease. Its focus shifted after CEO Stéphane Bancel realized producing vaccines would be a better way to prove the medical efficacy of mRNA technology.
- When the pandemic emerged and Moderna began developing an mRNA vaccine to prevent COVID-19, the U.S. agreed to pay the company $955 million for its vaccine trials and initial small-scale production. The young biotech couldn’t find any country willing to pay for its full manufacturing scale-up, so it raised $1.3 billion in May 2020 via a stock offering.
- Also during May 2020, Moderna signed a 10-year contract with Swiss drug manufacturer Lonza to produce the majority of the company’s European COVID-19 vaccine supply. The deal has been expanded twice. Moderna has also contracted Sanofi, Samsung Biologics and Thermo Fisher Scientific to help with its fill and finish manufacturing.
- Moderna has three types of COVID-19 booster vaccines in phase 2 trials. One is a lower-dose version of its original vaccine, one designed to target the beta variant first identified in South Africa and a third that combines both.
