Biotech firm Moderna enters global Covid-19 vaccine race – Wall Street Journal

American biotech firm Moderna has yet to develop an approved drug. However, the company is now in the global Covid-19 vaccine race. In June, the National Institute of Health (NIH) said Moderna's vaccine will enter a large phase three trial starting this month. Recent news of a delay in Moderna's coronavirus vaccine trial may threaten the company's position as the front-runner to produce a vaccine, though its bosses insist the trial's commencement is imminent. Studies of vaccines from pharmaceutical heavyweights AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson are set to start in August and September. Moderna's formidable progress is partly credited to its chief executive officer Stéphane Bancel. While his level of intensity has been criticised by some of the company's employees, his rigorous focus led to Moderna's collaboration with the NIH in January. – Nadya Swart

Inside Moderna: The Covid vaccine front-runner with no track record and an unsparing CEO

By Peter Loftus and Gregory Zuckerman

At the year's start, few outside the world of biotech had heard of a Boston-area company with a New Age name and unproven approach to drugmaking. Most in the industry who did know Moderna Inc. MRNA -4.90% doubted its prospects. Investors barely had interest in the company, which had yet to produce a medicine.

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