Moderna, Blackstone Find Opportunity in Crisis

Everyone knows Moderna, but that wasn’t always the case.

The pharmaceutical newcomer was not well known before the COVID-19 outbreak last spring, according to Moderna’s CFO David Meline. But thanks to more than a decade of research into messenger RNA, or mRNA, the company was one of only a few companies tasked by the U.S. government last year to supply the country with mRNA-based vaccines.

Moderna has delivered over 132 million doses so far this year, with plans to deliver another 300 million more in the coming months to combat the growing number of coronavirus variants.

Going from a startup to a major pharmaceutical supplier in a matter of months, Moderna is an extreme example of adaptation. Meline told SAP North America President DJ Paoni that a typical vaccine development program would be 10 years in the making. “We started in January [of 2020] and brought it at the end of December—less than a year,” he said at the ACG virtual event “Maximizing the Value of M&A Through Technology” that was sponsored by SAP.

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