Moderna Billionaires Gain $340 Million on Vaccine Promise

Moderna

Bloomberg

Moderna Inc. Chief Executive Officer Stephane Bancel’s net worth jumped by $170 million Monday after the biotech released encouraging results of its late-stage Covid-19 vaccine trial.

“This is a pivotal moment,” Bancel, 48, said in a statement. The study “has given us the first clinical validation that our vaccine can prevent Covid-19 disease, including severe disease.”

A preliminary analysis of data from more than 30,000 volunteers showed Moderna’s vaccine prevented virtually all symptomatic cases of Covid-19. The Cambridge, Massachusetts-based company’s shares gained 7.9% to $96.44 at 12:45 p.m. in New York.

The biotech’s hotly anticipated immunization has made billionaires of Bancel, board member and Massachusetts Institute of Technology scientist Bob Langer and Harvard University immunologist Tim Springer. The Moderna holdings of Langer and Springer were up about $80 million and $90 million, respectively.

The trio are the latest researchers and investors to see their wealth surge on the back of potential scientific breakthroughs in combating the pandemic that’s ravaged the globe. The brothers who own half of BioNTech SE, the German company developing a Covid-19 vaccine with Pfizer Inc., have added $8 billion to their fortunes this year, while the firm’s CEO Ugur Sahin has become a billionaire.

Pfizer and BioNTech reported last week the shot they’re working on prevented 90% of symptomatic infections in tens of thousands of volunteers. Like Moderna’s, their vaccine is based on a technology that harnesses the body’s messenger RNA to disable the disease.

Monday’s rally lifts Bancel’s net worth to $3 billion, based mainly on his 6% stake in the business, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

He and other Moderna executives have drawn criticism for selling stock amid an almost 400% increase in the company’s shares this year. Bancel alone has sold stock worth $41 million, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The firm has said sales by executives are triggered by pre-arranged stock-trading plans, but declined further comment.

— With assistance by Tom Maloney

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