The inside story of an unprecedented feat of science and business.
At the start of 2020, Moderna was a biotech unicorn with dim prospects.
Yes, there was the promise of its disruptive innovation that could
transform medicine by using something called messenger RNA, one of the
body's building blocks of life, to combat disease. But its stock was
under water. There were reports of a toxic work culture. And despite ten
years of work, the company was still years away from delivering its
first product. Investors were getting antsy, or worse, skeptical.
Then the pandemic hit, and Moderna, at first reluctantly, became a
central player in a global drama--a David to Big Pharma's
Goliaths--turning its technology toward breaking the global grip of the
terrible disease. By year's end, with the virus raging, Moderna
delivered one of the world's first Covid-19 vaccines, with a stunningly
high rate of protection. The achievement gave the world a way out of a
crippling pandemic while validating Moderna's technology, transforming
the company into a global industry power. Biotech, and the venture
capital community that fuels it, will never be the same.
Wall Street Journal reporter Peter Loftus, veteran reporter covering
the pharmaceutical and biotech industries and part of a Pulitzer
Prize-finalist team, brings the inside story of Moderna, from its humble
start at a casual lunch through its heady startup days, into the heart
of the pandemic and beyond. With deep access to all of the major
players, Loftus weaves a tale of science and business that brings to
life Moderna's monumental feat of creating a vaccine that beat back a
deadly virus and changed the business of medicine forever.
The Messenger spans a decade and is full of heroic efforts by ordinary
people, lucky breaks, and life-and-death decisions. It's the story of a
revolutionary idea, the evolution of a cutting-edge American industry,
and one of the great achievements of this century.
