Moderna
Moderna (Big pharma) | |
---|---|
Formation | 2010 |
Founder | • Noubar Afeyan • Kenneth R. Chien • Robert S. Langer • Derrick Rossi |
Headquarters | Massachusetts, USA |
Staff | 820 |
Interests | Vaccine/RNA Vaccine, “COVID-19/Vaccine” |
Interest of | Charles Hoffe, Bob Langer |
Subpage | •Moderna/CEO |
Membership | • Moncef Slaoui • Stéphane Bancel • Stephen Hoge • Juan Andres • Marcello Damiani • Tracey Franklin • Lori Henderson • Ray Jordan • David Meline • Tal Zaks |
Spooky tech company producing cure-all RNA vaccine |
For the vaccine, see Moderna COVID-19 vaccine
Moderna (formerly ModeRNA) is an American biotech company focused on drug discovery and drug and vaccine development based exclusively on messenger RNA (mRNA). In April 2020, Trump appointed Moderna board member Moncef Slaoui to Operation Warp Speed, the plan to vaccinate the entire American population by 2021. In November 2020, the company launched its Covid-19 vaccine.
Contents
History
In 2010, ModeRNA Therapeutics was formed to commercialize the research of stem cell biologist Derrick Rossi, who developed a method for modifying mRNA, transfecting it into human cells, then dedifferentiating it into stem cells that could then be further dedifferentiated into desired target cell types.
The company has a long history of collaboration with BARDA, for an improved Zika virus vaccine candidate,as well as large-scale manufacturing for the Zika vaccine. and DARPA, for advancing mRNA therapies and vaccines for biodefense[1].
In December 2018, Moderna became the largest biotech initial public offering (IPO) in history, raising $600 million for 8% of its shares, implying an overall valuation of $7.5 billion[2]. Fitting for its military/intelligence ties, the company has a reputation for secrecy and little of its work has ever been published, and none peer-reviewed or scientifically validated[3].
Covid-19 Vaccine
- Full article: Moderna COVID-19 vaccine
- Full article: Moderna COVID-19 vaccine
Under a rule put in place by the Securities and Exchange Commission in 2000 to allow company employees to sell shares without facing insider-trading charges, several Moderna (and fellow Big Pharma Pfizer) executives have - legally - sold shares worth more than $100 million during the summer and autumn 2020.[4] Since January, CEO Stéphane Bancel has sold roughly $40 million worth of Moderna stock held by himself or associated investment funds; Chief Medical Officer Tal Zaks, the medical face outwards of the US company and of the key figures in the development of its Covid-19 vaccine, has sold around $60 million; and President Stephen Hoge has sold more than $10 million.
"On a scale of one to 10, one being less concerned and 10 being the most concerned," said Daniel Taylor, an associate professor of accounting at the Wharton School, "this is an 11."[5]
In July 2021, Tal Zak left the company and sold most of his remaining shares. Per August 23, he only had 1,5 million dollars in shares left. Also Bancel keeps selling down.[6]
Leadership
Since 2011, Moderna has been led by CEO Stéphane Bancel, a French businessman who is not a scientist and comes from a pharma sales and operations background.
After Noubar Afeyan and Robert Langer, Bancel is the largest individual shareholder in the company.
Stephen Hoge is President and a former McKinsey & Company management consultant who joined in 2012; he is the fourth-largest individual shareholder in the company.
Lorence Kim is CFO and a former Goldman Sachs biotech investment banking managing director who joined in 2014; he is the fifth-largest individual shareholder in the company.
Since 2011, the Chairman of Moderna has been the CEO of Flagship Pioneering, businessman Noubar Afeyan. Afeyan holds his interest in Moderna through various Flagship Pioneering vehicles, however, at the 2018 IPO, documents filed stated that Afeyan owned 19.5% of the company, while Flagship owned 18%, thus giving Afeyan control over 37.5% of the company[7].
Related Quotations
Page | Quote | Author | Date |
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Dominic Cummings | “In March [2020] I started getting calls from various people saying these new mRNA vaccines could well smash the conventional wisdom. [. . .] People like Bill Gates and that kind of network were saying. [. . .] Essentially what happened is, [. . .] there is a network of people, Bill Gates type people, who were saying completely rethink the paradigm of how you do this.. What Bill Gates and people like that were saying to me and others in number 10 was you need to think of this much more like the classic programs of the past. [. . .] the Manhattan Project in WWII, the Apollo program.. But what Bill Gates and people were saying [. . .] was, the actual expected return on this is so high that even if does turn out to be all wasted billions it's still a good gamble [. . .] and that is what we did.” | Dominic Cummings | May 2021 |
Charles Hoffe | “In a single dose of a Moderna vaccine, there are 40 trillion messenger RNA molecules...Three-quarters of these molecules leave the arm of the injection, circulate through the bloodstream, and end up in the tiny capillary vessels.
These little packages of the genes are absorbed into the cells around the blood vessels of the vascular endothelium. The packages open, the genes are released, your body then gets to work reading these genes and manufacturing trillions and trillions of COVID spike proteins. Hoffe said even though there are 40 trillion mRNA genes, each gene can produce “many, many COVID spike proteins. And the purpose of the spike proteins is that your body recognizes this as a foreign protein and will make antibodies against it so that you’re then protected against COVID.” But this antibody response comes at a heavy price, he said. “The spike protein…becomes part of the cell wall of ….these cells that line your blood vessels, which are supposed to be smooth so that your blood flows smoothly. Now you have these little spiky bits sticking out,” Hoffe said. From here, “blood platelets circulate in your vessels…to detect a damaged vessel and block that vessel to stop bleeding. So when the platelet comes through the capillary, it suddenly hits all these little COVID spikes that are jutting into the inside of the vessel. It is absolutely inevitable that a blood clot will form.” Hoffe claimed the clots are “too small and too scattered” to show up on CT scans, angiograms, or MRIs, but are numerous enough to cause damage. There’s some tissues in your body like intestine and liver and kidneys that can regenerate to quite a good degree. But brain and spinal cord and heart muscle and lungs do not. When they’re damaged, it’s permanent, like all these young people who are now getting myocarditis from these shots. They have permanently damaged hearts. This is the terrifying concern. And not only is the long-term outlook very grim, but with each successive shot, the damage will add and add and add. It’s going to be cumulative.” | Charles Hoffe |
Known members
2 of the 10 of the members already have pages here:
Member | Description |
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Stéphane Bancel | French CEO of Moderna who struck it rich with its first product allowed on the market, a COVID-19 vaccine |
Moncef Slaoui | Responsible for warp-speed development of experimental Covid-19 jabs up to January 2021. Fired over a "substantiated" sexual harassment claim in March 2021. |
References
- ↑ https://www.modernatx.com/ecosystem/strategic-collaborators/mrna-strategic-collaborators-government-organizations
- ↑ https://edition.cnn.com/2020/05/01/us/coronavirus-moderna-vaccine-invs/index.html
- ↑ https://www.statnews.com/2016/09/13/moderna-therapeutics-biotech-mrna/
- ↑ https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/coronavirus/as-pharmaceutical-execs-sell-shares-worth-millions-questions-arise-1.5189713
- ↑ https://www.npr.org/2020/09/04/908305074/bad-optics-or-something-more-moderna-executives-stock-sales-raise-concerns
- ↑ https://www.msn.com/de-ch/finanzen/unternehmen/die-seltsamen-aktien-verk%C3%A4ufe-der-moderna-chefs/ar-AAOhRYR?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531
- ↑ https://www.biospace.com/article/moderna-increases-ipo-goal-to-600-million/