Blog: Updates & Breakthroughs in mRNA Technology

Moderna 2021 Shareholder Letter

January 4, 2022

By Stéphane Bancel, Chief Executive Officer

Dear fellow shareholders,

2021 was a year of monumental impact and change for Moderna. After a decade of pioneering the development of our mRNA platform, we were ready and well-positioned to play a critical role in combatting the COVID-19 pandemic globally with our mRNA vaccine.

Our COVID-19 vaccine has been granted emergency use authorization (EUA) or emergency use listing by the World Health Organization (WHO) and health agencies in more than 60 countries, to which we shipped approximately 800 million doses in 2021. This was no small task for a team of 2,700 people.

December 21, 2021

Moderna People Profile

Moderna

The importance of data and growth of analytics and AI in biotech is clear, and Moderna strives to be on the leading edge as we continue to grow. For an insider’s view of this, we caught up with our colleague Carlos Peralta, a member of Moderna’s Informatics team.

Carlos talks about what attracted him to his first role in biotech (at Moderna), his sources of inspiration, and what makes for a good work/life balance

December 09, 2021

By Dave Johnson, Chief Data & Artificial Intelligence Officer, Moderna

Moderna

We have several “Mindsets” at Moderna that define how we work, make decisions and build the best version of our company. Two of these Mindsets are “obsess over learning” and “digitize everywhere possible.” They come together like a well-fit jigsaw puzzle with the introduction of our Artificial Intelligence (AI) Academy, an immersive learning experience for all Moderna employees.

November 15, 2021

By Ruchira Glaser, SVP and Therapeutic Area Head of Rare Diseases, Cardiovascular Disease and Autoimmune Diseases
Paul Burton, Chief Medical Officer

Moderna

What if mRNA could treat life-threatening cardiovascular diseases such as heart failure?

Moderna and AstraZeneca are collaborating on a locally administered mRNA therapeutic (AZD8601) that encodes for vascular endothelial growth factor-A (VEGF-A) to promote recovery of cardiac function through tissue regeneration. Importantly, it is directly delivered into the myocardium—the muscular middle layer of the wall of the heart—to produce the VEGF-A protein in a specific place.

November 1, 2021

As greenhouse gas concentrations hit a record high last year, climate change is impacting our planet and human health in dramatic ways, including extreme weather contributing to eaths from diseases; air pollution exacerbating respiratory diseases; and climatic conditions increasing the spread of infectous disease. On the threshold of COP26, it is clear that time is of the essence to take bold steps to help fight the climate crisis.

October 29, 2021

Since our founding, we have obsessed about doing groundbreaking, cutting-edge science to bring a new class of medicines to the world. These investments in science over the past 10 years prepared us to chase the SARS-CoV-2 virus when it emerged. And, the scientific passion enabled us to bring a vaccine against COVID-19 to hundreds of millions of people around the world—one thats available real-world evidence has shown to have sustainably high, durable efficacy.

October 25, 2021

Congenital CMV is the leading infectious cause of birth defects in the U.S. and yet, 91% of women have never heard of it.[1] Together we can change that.

October 22nd, 2021

By Stéphane Bancel, Chief Executive Officer

Ultimately, we believe that we will win the battle against COVID-19. But it is essential that we focus our efforts where they are most needed, and at this point, that appears to be ensuring timely and comprehensive vaccine distribution and administration to countries that historically have been underserved.

October 8th, 2021

By Stéphane Bancel, Chief Executive Officer

When the COVID-19 pandemic struck, Moderna was an R&D-focused company that had yet to commercialize a product. But we believed our messenger RNA (mRNA) technology could make a difference, and within a very short time, we were able to advance our technology from the realm of scientific possibility, to authorized product and commercial production at unprecedented speed and scale. I want to thank our employees, our partners and the participants in our clinical trials who have been the heroes of our fight to end this pandemic.

May 26, 2021

Moderna People Profile

Moderna

As we celebrated Asian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, we caught up with our colleague Huijuan Li, who is a senior sponsor of Moderna’s ASPIRE (Asian & Pacific Islander Resources and Engagement) employee resource group.

Huijuan talks about accepting failure, turning the impossible into the possible, and the important role we can play in fostering diversity, inclusion and collaboration.

April 27, 2021

The pandemic has disrupted life as we know it. It has had a disproportionate impact on the most vulnerable and marginalized communities. It has led to an increase in mental health challenges due to joblessness and lockdowns, lost educational opportunities for many children and a tragic loss of life around the world.

Despite all that it has taken away, the pandemic has given us the opportunity to reflect on what is truly important, how we treat one another, and how we as Moderna create value for all of our stakeholders.

April 26, 2021

Today marks the start of World Immunization Week, a time to reflect on the importance of vaccines and immunization. The past year, in particular, has underscored its significance and brought us hope that vaccinations can help control the COVID-19 pandemic and other deadly diseases. Vaccines are second to only the availability of clean water in the impact to public health¹.

April 15, 2021

By Melanie Ivarsson, PhD, MBA, Chief Development Officer

Yesterday we hosted Moderna’s annual Vaccines Day during which we announced two important clinical milestones in our prophylactic vaccines core modality: new positive interim Phase 1 data from our Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) vaccine candidate and new 7-month interim Phase 2 data from our cytomegalovirus (CMV) vaccine candidate.

March 29, 2021

By Stéphane Bancel, Chief Executive Officer

We are proud to announce today that Moderna has shipped the 100 millionth dose of the Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine to the United States government. This is a most heartening milestone.

In a year that has been both historic and life-changing for almost everyone, so many of us have come together across business, government and civil society to make what is proving to be a profound impact. We knew from the very beginning that no one could do this alone. The Moderna team feels a deep sense of responsibility and pride in having been able to be part of the solution.

February 28, 2021

By Ruchira Glaser, M.D., M.S., Senior Vice President, Therapeutic Area Head, Rare Disease, Autoimmune & Cardiovascular

Alana Lewis

Only by working together can we maximize our impact on patients. We know that great science is being done around the world, and we are committed to being a part of this broader ecosystem as our team works to deliver new mRNA medicines for patients with rare diseases. Also, only through strong partnerships with patients and advocates will we be able to deliver on the promise of mRNA for the rare disease community.

February 1, 2021

Moderna People Profile

Alana Lewis

As we prepared to celebrate Black History Month at Moderna, we caught up with our colleague Alana Lewis, who is the chair of Moderna’s Black and African-American Employee Resource Group.

Alana talks about her love of a good challenge, spending downtime on what truly matters, and the importance of reflection this time of year.

January 4, 2021

By Stéphane Bancel, Chief Executive Officer

Dear fellow shareholders,

By nearly all measures, 2020 was a historic year in our lives. It was also a historic year for Moderna.

We started the year not knowing there was going to be a new virus, which would be declared a global pandemic—the first of its kind in 100 years since the Spanish flu. We ended the year with an Emergency Use Authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and an Interim Order from Health Canada for use of our COVID-19 vaccine.

December 18, 2020

By Stéphane Bancel, Chief Executive Officer

Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has authorized the emergency use of the Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine. This marks a bright spot in a year defined by the biggest public health crisis of our lives, disruption, uncertainty and loss for many of us, and a significant milestone in our fight against the pandemic virus.

June 30, 2020

Moderna People Profile

We caught up with our colleague Anisa Gandhi, who works at Moderna’s Technology Center, to hear her perspective on how values and culture drive workplace behavior.

Anisa talks collaboration, leading by example and what it means to build a culture of quality.

April 17, 2020

Moderna People Profile

As we neared the end of Women’s History Month, we caught up with our colleague Kathrin Jinivizian online, keeping a safe social distance during the COVID-19 outbreak.

Kathrin talks about revolutionizing medicine, women in manufacturing, and reaching a broad range of people to do highly creative and heart-based work.

March 2, 2020

At Moderna, building a digital biotech is a foundational component of who we are and is a key enabler of our mission to create a new class of mRNA medicines for patients. Incorporating digital into everything we do is mission-critical to us.

March 2, 2020

We believe manufacturing plays a critical role in our value chain and ability to develop a new category of medicines.

February 28, 2020

By Kelly Lindert, M.D., Head of Metabolic Rare Diseases Clinical Development

Moderna’s mission is to deliver on the promise of mRNA science to create a new generation of transformative medicines for patients, including those with certain rare diseases.

January 6, 2020

By Stéphane Bancel, Chief Executive Officer

Dear fellow shareholders,

New positive clinical data marked the high points of a productive inflection year for Moderna, and we are entering 2020 with clear priorities, a strong cash balance and a talented team of relentless employees focused on achieving our Mission. I am excited and humbled by the opportunity to bring a new class of medicines to patients and I believe our recent advances have put us closer than ever before to that ultimate goal: launching several first-in-class medicines where there are no treatments today.

December 19, 2019

Moderna People Profile

Ander Tallett and family

We caught up with alumnus Joe Cabral, who left Moderna to pursue a full-time MBA at University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business.

Joe talks about doing work with big-picture clarity, the importance of being intentional and the best career advice he’s received.

October 31, 2019

Moderna People Profile

Ander Tallett and family

We caught up with our colleague Ander Tallett, who recently returned from parental leave after the birth of his second son.

Ander talks about life as a former serial entrepreneur—going from tech startup to biotech—and finding a balance between family and work.

October 7, 2019

By Wellington Sun, M.D., Head of Vaccine Strategy and Regulatory Affairs

Pictured (L to R): Lori Panther, Allison August, Christy Shaw, Andrea Carfi, Wellington Sun

We recently returned from our first IDWeek, where we presented data from two of our prophylactic mRNA vaccines. Learn more about the data and our commitment to infectious diseases.

September 27, 2019

By Stephen Hoge, M.D., President

Pictured (L to R): Eric Huang (Moderna), Stephen Hoge (Moderna), Andrea Carfi (Moderna), Gilles Besin (Moderna), Peter Howley (Harvard Medical School), Arlene Sharpe (Harvard Medical School), Ulrich von Andrian (Harvard Medical School), Melissa Moore (Moderna), Josh Frederick (Moderna), David Golan (Harvard Medical School)

Hear from Stephen Hoge on our new research collaboration with Harvard University, aimed at helping us expand in a bold new direction.

September 12, 2019

By Stéphane Bancel, Chief Executive Officer

norwood leadership

Read more from CEO Stephane Bancel about today’s R&D Day and how new Phase 1 data validate the scientific foundation of our work in the latest Moderna blog.

August 30, 2019

Moderna People Profile

jackie milton with lions

We caught up with two of our colleagues from Delivery Sciences, who recently returned from month-long sabbaticals, to hear about their time away and how it has shaped their perspectives on life and work.

Jackie and Örn talk nanotechnologies, pushing boundaries and finding comfort in the familiar.

July 17, 2019

By Juan Andres, Chief Technical Operations and Quality Officer, and the Norwood Leadership Team

norwood leadership

Happy anniversary to our Moderna team at Norwood! One year ago, we opened our digitally-enabled and environmentally-sustainable 200,000 square foot clinical development manufacturing plant in Norwood, Massachusetts, to help advance Moderna’s pipeline of mRNA-based medicines.

July 11, 2019

Moderna People Profile

Symphony for Science

We caught up with our colleague Nicholas Amato after an inspiring evening at Boston’s Symphony Hall, where he shared his musical talents as a member of the Kendall Square Orchestra’s Symphony for Science—in support of the fight against Frontotemporal Disorders.

June 18, 2019

By Lori Panther, M.D., M.P.H., Director, Clinical Development, Infectious Diseases

Stop CMV Hand

During our most recent Town Hall meeting, the Moderna community demonstrated its solidarity by joining the “Stop CMV Hands Campaign.” I’m so proud of my colleagues for lending their hands, as well as their hearts and minds, to advance the science behind Moderna’s mRNA-based vaccine to prevent cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection!

May 7, 2019

By Stephen Hoge, M.D. and Melissa Moore, Ph.D.

young stagni

Today, we hosted our second annual Science Day symposium. This day is our chance to provide insights into the diverse efforts we have underway to advance our platform science and our research into how to use mRNA as a medicine. In the last four years, the platform has produced over 20 investigational mRNA medicines, 11 of which have already advanced into human clinical trials. It’s our hope that these programs represent just the first wave of a new class of medicines.

February 28, 2019

By Lin Guey, Ph.D., Senior Director, Rare Diseases

young stagni

Kathy Stagni gave birth to a baby girl, Melissa, in 1988. Only four days later, Melissa slipped into a coma and was diagnosed with a rare metabolic disorder called propionic acidemia, or PA for short. PA is caused by a missing enzyme involved in breaking down certain proteins and fats and is part of a group of disorders called organic acidemias. Currently, there are no approved medicines that treat the underlying causes of PA or other organic acidemias.

February 20, 2019

By Tal Zaks, M.D., Ph.D., Chief Medical Officer

tal zaks

This week we were very excited to share newly published clinical data showing the potential of mRNA encoding vascular endothelial growth factor-A (VEGF-A) as a regenerative therapeutic in patients. Published in Nature Communications, these findings represent an important milestone as we seek to further understand and establish the safety and efficacy of delivering mRNA to human tissues.

February 5, 2019

By Stephen Hoge, M.D., President

Today, Moderna announced that we dosed the first monoclonal antibody encoded by mRNA in a human. mRNA-1944 is an antibody against Chikungunya virus and the first development candidate from Moderna’s systemic therapeutics modalities to start clinical testing. This marks an important moment for our team and their efforts to develop a new class of medicines based on mRNA.

July 18, 2018

By Stéphane Bancel, Chief Executive Officer

Although Moderna is a young company, we are planning for long-term impact. Our mission is to deliver on the promise of mRNA science to make transformative medicines for patients. But we also believe we have a significant opportunity to build a company that can be a model for corporate citizenship.

July 3, 2018

By Regina Fritsche-Danielson, Vice President and Head of Cardiovascular, Renal and Metabolism, IMED Biotech Unit, AstraZeneca

It isn’t often that a group of scientists get to work on something as exciting as heart muscle regeneration. But a joint research team from AstraZeneca and Moderna have seen encouraging results by stimulating the growth of new blood vessels at the borders of damaged heart muscle tissue.

February 28, 2018

By John Mendlein, Ph.D., President, Corporate and Product Strategy

Each year, the last day of February serves as a reminder to pause and reflect on the challenges and unique needs of patients and families living with rare diseases. It is an opportunity for all members of the patient, medical, and scientific communities to shine a light on the urgent need to improve the care and support for those impacted by such conditions. At Moderna, we are working to intensify this light across an array of rare genetic diseases – and our intent is to bring the full potential of our mRNA-based medicines to create new therapies for untreatable, and previously undruggable ailments.

February 20, 2018

By Mike Watson, MB ChB, SVP Vaccine Partnerships & Health Impact

It is natural to think that a viral infection will always manifest itself as an illness or disease until either the body has cleared it or the virus kills its host. In fact, there are many viruses whose success relies on their ability to enter our bodies and hide without causing an acute illness or alerting our immune systems. These sleeper viruses then periodically wake up and use their host to spread silently to their contacts. The herpes family of viruses are masters of this tactic, and Cytomegalovirus, or CMV, is a member of this family. CMV is estimated to live silently within 60 percent of the U.S. and similar populations – and in nearly 80 percent of people worldwide.

December 19, 2017

By Stephen Hoge, M.D., President, Moderna
and Paolo Martini, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer, Rare Diseases

2017 has been both an exciting, and by all measures, a highly productive year here at Moderna. We began with four clinical programs and are ending the year with ten. In January, we unveiled 12 development candidates (DCs) and have since added six more to our pipeline.

November 15, 2017

By Tal Zaks, M.D., Ph.D.
Chief Medical Officer, Moderna

Today marks an emotionally special milestone for me, as a medical oncologist, and for our entire team. This morning, we announced that we have dosed our first patient in the Phase 1 study of our personalized cancer vaccine, mRNA-4157. We have an opportunity to advance a medicine that is so novel, so breakthrough, it could truly transform the treatment of cancer. And that could enable us to help many, many patients more effectively fight this disease – and, for some, even cure it.

October 19, 2017

By Annie Drapeau
Chief Human Resources Officer, Moderna

This afternoon we announced that, for the third year in a row, we have been named one of the top 10 employers in Science magazine’s annual Top Employers survey. We are incredibly proud of this recognition, and are honored to be named on this list with so many other companies that we admire.

September 26, 2017

By Giuseppe Ciaramella, Ph.D.
Chief Scientific Officer, Infectious Diseases, Moderna

When I describe leading infectious disease research efforts at Moderna, I often say it’s a bit like being a kid in a candy shop. We have this amazing, versatile tool in our hands. And we’re pushing the boundaries of this platform technology’s capabilities by exploring a range of options simultaneously – both across therapeutic areas and within therapeutic areas.

September 13, 2017

Stéphane Bancel, Chief Executive Officer, Moderna

2017 is a key inflection point for Moderna on our journey to make mRNA medicines a reality for patients.

Our big news: major steps forward for our therapeutic modalities …

June 28, 2017

Noubar Afeyan, Ph.D.
Co-founder and Chairman, Moderna Therapeutics
CEO, Flagship Pioneering

In April 2015, Luke Timmerman wrote an article that appeared in Forbes titled, ‘The Oprahs of Biotech: People Who Can Go by First Name Only.’

‘Stéphane’ was among the names in Luke’s article.

June 22, 2017

Stéphane Bancel, Chief Executive Officer, Moderna

My first leadership roles in the biopharma industry were within a large pharma company. This was a phenomenal experience. I gained a strong understanding of how organizational infrastructures support established, global R&D, manufacturing and commercial enterprises to advance medicines to help patients. But I also saw how silos of information, a blend of analog processes and digital ones, and a lack of integration among heterogeneous systems and geographic locations led to many lost opportunities.

May 4, 2017

Michael Watson, MB ChB, MRCP, AFPM
President, Infectious Diseases, Moderna

Evan Rachlin, MD
Senior Director of Strategic Planning, Moderna

As physicians by training, we’re often asked by friends and family why we made the decision to jump from clinical care to the biopharmaceutical space. The potential to bring new medicines to patients – medicines that can impact and improve many, many lives – is tantalizing.

What attracted both of us to Moderna specifically was its potential to bring not just one or two new medicines to market – but to possibly launch an entire new class of medicines that could help people impacted by many types of diseases. Go big or go home.

April 28, 2017

Stéphane Bancel
Chief Executive Officer, Moderna

Dear All,

Welcome to the Moderna Blog.

We’ve considered launching this blog for a while – and this week seemed like the perfect time.

Why launch a blog? We wanted to have a channel to communicate directly and more personally to all those interested in Moderna.

We plan to share insights and our viewpoint on important topics related to our company, our science and pipeline, and our industry as a whole. The blog also will give various team members a platform to talk about what motivates, inspires and drives them in their work here.

The blogs contained in this section are provided for historical purposes only. The information contained in each blog is accurate only as of the date each press release was originally issued. Moderna disavows any obligation to update the information contained in such blogs after the date of their issuance.

Moderna Blog: News and Updates

Moderna 2021 Shareholder Letter

January 4, 2022

Questions & Answers with Carlos Peralta

December 21, 2021

Moderna Launches AI Academy for All Employees

December 09, 2021

Positive Progress in mRNA Use for Cardiovascular Disease

November 15, 2021

Moderna's Net Zero Pledge

November 1, 2021

Mindset Matters

October 29, 2021

Making Strides Toward CMV Prevention

October 25, 2021

Global Vaccination: The Way Forward

October 22nd, 2021

Our Global Commitment to Vaccine Access

October 8th, 2021

Questions & Answers with Huijuan Li

May 26, 2021

Taking the next steps on our CSR journey

April 27, 2021

mRNA Vaccines: This is just the beginning

April 26, 2021

Diseases Don’t Discriminate—Neither Should Clinical Research

April 15, 2021

Moderna Ships 100 Millionth Dose of COVID-19 Vaccine to the U.S. Government

March 29, 2021

Rallying for Rare: Working Together to Help Patients in Need

February 28, 2021

Questions & Answers with Alana Lewis

February 1, 2021

Moderna 2020 Shareholder Letter

January 4, 2021

Moderna’s mRNA Vaccine Against COVID-19 Receives FDA Emergency Use Authorization

December 18, 2020

Questions & Answers with Anisa Gandhi

June 30, 2020

Questions & Answers with Kathrin Jinivizian

April 17, 2020

How Moderna is Building a Digital Biotech

March 2, 2020

Moderna Manufacturing: Why Norwood?

March 2, 2020

Rare Isn’t Rare: Accelerating Progress in Rare Disease Treatment

February 28, 2020

Moderna 2019 Shareholder Letter

January 6, 2020

Questions & Answers with Joe Cabral

December 19, 2019

Questions & Answers with Ander Tallett

October 31, 2019

Sharing Science at IDWeek 2019

October 7, 2019

Working with Others to Move in a Bold New Direction

September 27, 2019

Two New Scientific Milestones Validate Moderna’s mRNA Platform

September 12, 2019

Questions & Answers with Jackie Milton and Örn Almarsson, Ph.D.

August 30, 2019

Celebrating a Year of Progress at Norwood

July 17, 2019

Questions & Answers with Nicholas J. Amato, Ph.D.

July 11, 2019

Lending Our Hands to Help Raise Awareness While Working Toward CMV Prevention

June 18, 2019

Advancing the Frontiers of Our Platform Science

May 7, 2019

Working to Change the Future for Patients with Rare Metabolic Disorders

February 28, 2019

An Important Step in the Advancement of mRNA medicines: Newly Published Clinical Data Show the Early Potential of VEGF-A mRNA as a Regenerative Therapeutic

February 20, 2019

Using mRNA to Encode Biologics: Charting a Potential New Course for Medicine

February 5, 2019

Demonstrating a Commitment to Corporate Citizenship from the Ground Up: Building an Energy Efficient and Sustainable Manufacturing Site

July 18, 2018

A Potential Treatment for Heart Failure Using mRNA to Boost VEGF-A Production in the Heart

July 3, 2018

Expanding Our Commitment to Rare Disease Therapeutics