Hot Topic: Science trumps politics in a very modern(a) tale

I’m sure you’ve seen that Moderna’s share price absolutely rocketed on great news from the trial of their mRNA-based personalised cancer vaccine it’s running with Merck MSD.

And I mean rocketed! The graph looks like take-off from Cape Canaveral.

The results are obviously brilliant news for Moderna. The share price almost tripled because the results are being seen as confirmation of the potential of the company’s whole mRNA-based approach to oncology.

This comes after years in which it’s been out in the cold –  both because of the investment winter that has left biotech in the deep freeze after the Covid-era boom, and because of opposition to mRNA technology from some policy-makers during the last couple of years.

The results are also fantastic news for the biotech sector as a whole – because they represent a victory of science over politics.

Moderna has suffered because of fears and arguments about the safety of mRNA technology. These fears have clearly deterred others wanting to develop mRNA based therapeutics too. They have had a chilling effect on the area.

The share price reaction to this trial is evidence that, when push comes to shove – and where money is at stake – good science will win out.

As the company’s chief executive Stephane Bancel told the FT when the results came out, “It’s sad to see some misinformation about the technology,” but that “The clinical data speak for themselves.”

With luck, we will see the appetite for mRNA and related technologies opening up more and more in the months ahead.

That’s great because, as our guest Parker Moss of Wellcome Leap’s R3 Global programme explained on Optimum TV recently, such technologies hold enormous potential.

Not just in cancer, but in other areas like immunological disorders, cardiometabolic, neurology and of course infectious diseases.

Do go and watch that Episode 73 with Parker – we’ll drop the link below.

And thank you for watching another Hot Topic!