The Wall Street Journal reports that Moderna (MRNA -6.6%) CEO Stéphane Bancel has nurtured a high-stress environment at the Boston-area biotech, although his intense leadership has transformed the company from tiny startup with only $2M to its name to one of the leaders in the race to a COVID-19 vaccine sporting a market cap of $22B.
Mr. Bancel, a Frenchman who had the helm at clinical diagnostics firm bioMerieux S.A. before jumping ship, had his doubts early on, unsure of whether his team could get mRNA into human cells, a challenge since solved via the use of lipid nanoparticles.
Its COVID-19 vaccine works by delivering mRNA into cells which instruct them to make a protein resembling the coronavirus spike protein, the antigen that elicits the production of anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies.
Key wins for the company are the $240M deal with AstraZeneca for the rights to certain drugs and its cancer vaccine partnership with Merck.
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