CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Moderna, Inc. (Nasdaq: MRNA), a biotechnology company pioneering messenger RNA (mRNA) therapeutics and vaccines, today announced it has been named as a top company on Fast Company’s prestigious annual list of the World’s Most Innovative Companies for 2021. The Company was ranked number one in a tie with Pfizer-BioNTech as the companies behind the first mRNA vaccines against COVID-19.
“We are honored to receive this recognition from Fast Company, which underscores Moderna’s commitment to turning innovation into impact every day. 2020 was a historic year for the world and for Moderna. We created an authorized vaccine against COVID-19 in less than 12 months from the availability of the sequence of the virus – an extraordinary accomplishment for a biotech company with just over 1,200 people at the time. Our ability to create our COVID-19 vaccine was driven by our investments in mRNA science as well as our company culture, which fosters creativity, innovation and an entrepreneurial spirit,” said Stéphane Bancel, Chief Executive Officer of Moderna. “I would like to thank the entire global Moderna team for their tireless work on all 24 programs in our development pipeline and for their relentlessness in developing a vaccine against COVID-19, which has the potential to extend well beyond Moderna to potentially benefit millions of people across society. I also want to thank the team for their commitment to our mission to deliver on the promise of mRNA science for patients and populations around the world.”
Moderna’s vaccine against COVID-19 is its most significant innovation in 2020. The Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine is among the world’s first mRNA vaccines and is Moderna’s first authorized product. Moderna was able to leverage its decade of experience in mRNA to move rapidly on design and manufacture of material for the Phase 1 COVID-19 vaccine clinical trial—with the first participant dosed 63 days after sequence selection. Moderna designs its mRNA vaccines using the sequence of the virus to replicate a part of the virus—for the Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine, replicating the SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein (S)—rather than a weakened or inactive virus used in typical vaccines for viruses.
Moderna’s mRNA medicines are designed to direct the body’s cells to produce proteins that can have a therapeutic or preventive benefit in the areas of infectious diseases, immuno-oncology, rare diseases, cardiovascular diseases, and autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. The Company’s platform builds on advances in mRNA science, delivery technology and manufacturing, providing Moderna the capability to pursue a robust pipeline of new development candidates, independently and with strategic collaborators. Moderna currently has 24 mRNA development programs in its portfolio with 13 having entered clinical studies.
Fast Company’s editors and writers sought out the most groundbreaking businesses across the globe and industries. The Most Innovative Companies list honors businesses that have not only found a way to be resilient in the past year, but also turned those challenges into impact-making processes. This year’s Most Innovative Companies list features 463 businesses from 29 countries. Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies issue (March/April 2021) is now available online and on newsstands beginning March 16, 2021.
About Moderna
In 10 years since its inception, Moderna has transformed from a science research-stage company advancing programs in the promising-but-still-unproven field of messenger RNA (mRNA), to an enterprise with its first medicine having treated millions of people, a diverse clinical portfolio of vaccines and therapeutics across six modalities, a broad intellectual property portfolio in areas including mRNA and lipid nanoparticle formulation, and an integrated manufacturing plant that allows for both clinical and commercial production at scale and at unprecedented speed. Moderna maintains alliances with a broad range of domestic and overseas government and commercial collaborators, which has allowed for the pursuit of both groundbreaking science and rapid scaling of manufacturing. Most recently, Moderna’s capabilities have come together to allow the authorized use of one of the earliest and most-effective vaccines against the COVID-19 pandemic.
Moderna’s mRNA platform builds on continuous advances in basic and applied mRNA science, delivery technology and manufacturing, and has allowed the development of therapeutics and vaccines for infectious diseases, immuno-oncology, rare diseases, cardiovascular diseases and auto-immune diseases. Today, 24 development programs are underway across these therapeutic areas, with 13 programs having entered the clinic. Moderna has been named a top biopharmaceutical employer by Science for the past six years. To learn more, visit www.modernatx.com.
About FAST COMPANY
Fast Company is the only media brand fully dedicated to the vital intersection of business, innovation, and design, engaging the most influential leaders, companies, and thinkers on the future of business. The editor-in-chief is Stephanie Mehta. Headquartered in New York City, Fast Company is published by Mansueto Ventures LLC, along with our sister publication Inc., and can be found online at www.fastcompany.com.
Moderna’s Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, as amended, including regarding: the potential administration of the Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine; the impact and benefit of the Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine; the process the Company uses for developing vaccines; and its product platform. In some cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as “will,” “may,” “should,” “could,” “expects,” “intends,” “plans,” “aims,” “anticipates,” “believes,” “estimates,” “predicts,” “potential,” “continue,” or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology, although not all forward-looking statements contain these words. The forward-looking statements in this press release are neither promises nor guarantees, and you should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements because they involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors, many of which are beyond Moderna’s control and which could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. These risks, uncertainties, and other factors include, among others: the fact that there has never been a commercial product utilizing mRNA technology approved for use; the fact that the rapid response technology in use by Moderna is still being developed and implemented; the safety, tolerability and efficacy profile of the Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine observed to date may change adversely in ongoing analyses of trial data or subsequent to commercialization; the Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine may prove less effective against variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, or the Company may be unsuccessful in developing future versions of its vaccine against these variants; despite having ongoing interactions with the FDA or other regulatory agencies, the FDA or such other regulatory agencies may not agree with the Company’s regulatory approval strategies, components of our filings, such as clinical trial designs, conduct and methodologies, or the sufficiency of data submitted; Moderna may encounter delays in meeting manufacturing or supply timelines or disruptions in its distribution plans for the Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine; whether and when any biologics license applications and/or additional emergency use authorization applications may be filed in various jurisdictions and ultimately approved by regulatory authorities; potential adverse impacts due to the global COVID-19 pandemic such as delays in regulatory review, manufacturing and clinical trials, supply chain interruptions, adverse effects on healthcare systems and disruption of the global economy; and those other risks and uncertainties described under the heading “Risk Factors” in Moderna’s most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and in subsequent filings made by Moderna with the SEC, which are available on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. Except as required by law, Moderna disclaims any intention or responsibility for updating or revising any forward-looking statements contained in this press release in the event of new information, future developments or otherwise. These forward-looking statements are based on Moderna’s current expectations and speak only as of the date hereof.
