Sympathy for the unicorn
Yesterday morning, Moderna Therapeutics saw its stock price shoot up about 10% in less than an hour after posting a tweet. The tweet said that Moderna’s potential vaccine for the novel coronavirus had been cleared to enter a first human trial. Within minutes, a bunch of debatably robotic Twitter accounts began posting semi-legible positive things about the stock. And, as Moderna’s share price rose, members of biotech’s cognoscenti rolled their eyes, another public company using global crises for stock promotion.
But what exactly did we want Moderna to do? The tweet in question only confirmed what Alex Azar, secretary of Health and Human Services, had said into a live microphone the evening before. The company could have not posted it, but then it would be deferring to an administration whose pronouncements on the coronavirus outbreak have often been contradictory and confusing (in the same briefing, Azar suggested Moderna’s vaccine was developed “within three days” rather than the actual 42.)
Anyway, by the end of the day Moderna’s share price was back to where it started, and all of its previously stated timelines remain intact. CEO Stephane Bancel told Business Insider that the company would “be very thoughtful about setting a price” if the vaccine proves to work, saying there’s “no world I think where we would contemplate to price this higher” than other vaccines for respiratory infections.
But what exactly did we want Moderna to do? The tweet in question only confirmed what Alex Azar, secretary of Health and Human Services, had said into a live microphone the evening before. The company could have not posted it, but then it would be deferring to an administration whose pronouncements on the coronavirus outbreak have often been contradictory and confusing (in the same briefing, Azar suggested Moderna’s vaccine was developed “within three days” rather than the actual 42.)
Anyway, by the end of the day Moderna’s share price was back to where it started, and all of its previously stated timelines remain intact. CEO Stephane Bancel told Business Insider that the company would “be very thoughtful about setting a price” if the vaccine proves to work, saying there’s “no world I think where we would contemplate to price this higher” than other vaccines for respiratory infections.
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