This Mysterious $2 Billion Biotech Is Revealing the Secrets Behind Its New Drugs and Vaccines

Thursday, February 2, 2017

In a recent morning meeting of scientific leaders at Moderna Therapeutics, conversation swerved toward the philosophical. Biochemist Melissa Moore, recently hired to head RNA research at the Boston-area biotech, had something on her mind: hype.

Specifically, she was thinking about Gartner’s hype cycle, a glib model cooked up by an IT research firm, in which every new technology ascends a “peak of inflated expectations,” sinks into a “trough of disillusionment,” then climbs the “slope of enlightenment” to reach a “plateau of productivity.” Where on this curve, she wondered to Moderna’s president, Stephen Hoge, was their technology?

The question is apt. Moderna was founded on the idea that messenger RNA (mRNA), the molecule that relays genetic instructions from DNA to the cell’s proteinmaking machinery, could be re-engineered into a versatile set of drugs and vaccines. These strands of instructions could teach our cells to make whatever was needed to treat or prevent disease—virus-slaying antibodies, wastegobbling enzymes, heart-mending growth factors. The willingness of pharmaceutical giants and investors to bet on that premise to the tune of nearly $2 billion has unleashed waves of both hype and skepticism.

Source: Science (link opens in a new window)

Categories
Health Care
Tags
vaccines