A controversial biotech firm is claiming early positive progress on its trial of a coranavirus vaccine — giving a massive financial boost to President Trump’s newly minted vaccine czar.
The report sent Moderna stock soaring by up to 34% in pre-market trading Monday. It was trading up a more modest 22% by midmorning.The stock spike temporarily added at least $3.4 million to the bottom line of Moncef Slaoui, the just-named vaccine czar who was on the board of Moderna until his appointment. Moderna is backed by millions of dollars invested by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Slaoui, a veteran Big Pharma exec, holds 156,000 stock options that increased in value by more than $3 million on the Monday morning news.Ethics experts called the lucrative morning for Slaoui a prime example of why he should not be making decisions about winners and losers in the coronavirus vaccine race.
“You could hurt or kill millions of people,” said Peter Maybarduk of Public Citizen, a watchdog groulp. “A better vaccine might not be created or it might not be distributed to the widest number of people.”
Slaoui, a former GlaxoSmithKline executive, spoke glowingly last week about Trump’s goal of producing a coronavirus vaccine by the end of the year. READ MORE;
Let me get this straight — guy who ran the Gates-backed Pharma company who is creating leading COVID-19 vaccine is now the vaccine Czar in White House? — Trump’s New Vaccine Czar Makes $3.4 Million Windfall on Bill Gates-Backed CoronaVirus Vaccine Stock https://t.co/PXSXylMg8K
— Thomas Paine (@Thomas1774Paine) May 18, 2020
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