(Photo: U.S. Senate Committee for Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee/Handout via REUTERS )
Dr. Anthony Fauci, chief of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, is cautiously optimistic about the candidate for a coronavirus vaccine from Moderna Inc and disclosed to NPR that if the drug proves effective, it may be ready for use by end of the year.
Moderna's coronavirus drug candidate got a major lift late Friday from Fauci, the country's leading infectious disease expert and one of the leading medical experts on the Trump administration's pandemic task force.
Dr. Fauci told the National Press Radio Friday that having checked the data himself, the vaccine candidate is really promising. "Although the numbers were limited, it's quite a good news because it went over an important hurdle in development of vaccines," Fauci disclosed on Thursday at a CNN town hall, and as reported by Elizabeth Balboa of Benzinga.
The last couple of days have been quite monumental for Moderna. Its stock saw a decent increase late Monday after the biotech company said Phase 1 trials for its mRNA-1273 showed positive results. Stocks settled nearly 20 percent higher than with last Friday's ending price and climbed almost 340 percent year to date on closing bell. In contrast, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up more than 900 points late Monday, a rise of just below 4 percent from its last session.
Fauci said he was optimistic about Moderna's recent Phase 1 trial results, even though the pharmaceutical firm disclosed only a partial information on Monday. Fauci also stated that while it was normal to be skeptical about Moderna's initial test results, it would be released in a peer-analyzed journal for everyone to evaluate in the next few weeks.
During early Phase 1 test data made public on Monday, the prospective treatment was seen to enable antibody reactions in eight healthy adult subjects and found to be generally safe and "well-tolerated." Fauci added that more research on the candidate vaccine have been fast-tracked.
Lorence Kim, Moderna's chief financial officer, initiated 241,000 options valued at $3 million on Monday, filings disclosed. Kim then sold them for $19.8 million, gaining $16.8 million in profit. The sales took place after Moderna excited Wall Street traders prior to opening bell Monday by announcing promising drug trial results. Moderna's market value increased to $29 billion, although it has no marketed products as of the moment.
Moderna pushed forward with a new stock proposal earlier this week that could give the pharmaceutical giant over $1.3 billion in extra funding. Moderna has also announced plans to offer 17.6 million new shares valued at $76 each. The company's shares climbed almost 5 percent in morning session on Friday.
Meanwhile, despite the promising figures from Moderna, Fauci still believes that it will take around 18 months for a coronavirus treatment to be mass produced.
