The Messenger: Moderna, the Vaccine, and the Business Gamble That Changed the World

by Peter Loftus

The inside story of an unprecedented feat of science and business.

At the start of 2020, Moderna was a biotech unicorn with dim prospects. Yes, there was the promise of its disruptive innovation that could transform medicine by using something called messenger RNA, one of the body's building blocks of life, to combat disease. But its stock was under water. There were reports of a toxic work culture. And despite ten years of work, the company was still years away from delivering its first product. Investors were getting antsy, or worse, skeptical.

Then the pandemic hit, and Moderna, at first reluctantly, became a central player in a global drama—a David to Big Pharma's Goliaths—turning its technology toward breaking the global grip of the terrible disease. By year's end, with the virus raging, Moderna delivered one of the world's first Covid-19 vaccines, with a stunningly high rate of protection. The achievement gave the world a way out of a crippling pandemic while validating Moderna's technology, transforming the company into a global industry power. Biotech, and the venture capital community that fuels it, will never be the same.

Wall Street Journal reporter Peter Loftus, veteran reporter covering the pharmaceutical and biotech industries and part of a Pulitzer Prize–finalist team, brings the inside story of Moderna, from its humble start at a casual lunch through its heady startup days, into the heart of the pandemic and beyond. With deep access to all of the major players, Loftus weaves a tale of science and business that brings to life Moderna's monumental feat of creating a vaccine that beat back a deadly virus and changed the business of medicine forever.

The Messenger spans a decade and is full of heroic efforts by ordinary people, lucky breaks, and life-and-death decisions. It's the story of a revolutionary idea, the evolution of a cutting-edge American industry, and one of the great achievements of this century.

Genres: Science, Nonfiction, Business, Medicine, Health

297 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 26, 2022

About the author

PETER LOFTUS is a reporter for the Wall Street Journal, covering the drug and medical-device industries and other health care topics. He was part of a Journal team that won second place in the business category of the 2020 Association of Health Care Journalists’ awards for coverage of the race for a Covid-19 vaccine. In 2016 he was part of a Journal team that was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in explanatory reporting for a series of articles about rising prescription drug prices. Before joining the Journal in 2013, he was a reporter for Dow Jones Newswires, covering the pharmaceutical and technology industries. Before that, he worked for community newspapers in suburban Philadelphia. He graduated from the University of Notre Dame with a bachelor’s degree in English and history. He lives outside Philadelphia with his wife and three children.

Reviews

[Venky · Rating 4 out of 5]

On Friday, December 18, Carlota Vinals, head of regulatory affairs for infectious diseases at Moderna received a nine-page letter from the US FDA. Ensconced within the arcane sounding communiqué, were fifteen seminal words, “I am authorizing the emergency use of Moderna COVID-19 vaccine for the prevention of COVID-19.” For a start-up that was just into its first decade of operation, this approval culminated a remarkable saga of courage, conviction and chaos. Peter Loftus, a reporter at the Wall Street Journal covering pharmaceuticals, medical devices and healthcare, in his upcoming book, “The Messenger” lays out in riveting and revealing fashion the journey of Moderna from the prosaic to the phenomenal, and its metamorphosis from the unheard to the ubiquitous.

Moderna was incorporated as a company that banked on the success of a technology whose potential was just a tiny blip on the medical horizon. Messenger RNA (mRNA for short) is present in all of the cells in a human body. mRNA It interacts with other components in cells thereby aiding and abetting in the creation of proteins. Scientists at Moderna attempted to design each mRNA so that directions could be given to the cells to manufacture a specific kind of protein. mRNA is delivered by either injection or infusion.

Canadian stem cell biologist and entrepreneur, Derrick Rossi; American chemical engineer, scientist, entrepreneur, inventor and a man carrying the formidable moniker, “the Edison of Medicine”, Robert Langer, and Kenneth Chien, a Harvard Medical School faculty member, pioneered the establishment of Moderna. Travails, tribulations and knocking on umpteen doors later, the founders managed to obtain a funding for their venture from Flagship Ventures, a Venture Capital firm headed by a Lebanese immigrant, Noubar Afeyan.

Moderna began operations from a non-descript building in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Jason Schrum, a PhD holder in biological chemistry and molecular pharmacology from Harvard became the first employee and toiled away in solitary fashion from a basement. The hard talking, hard selling and mercurial Stephane Bancel was lured away from his lucrative job as CEO of bioMerieux by Noubar Afeyan. Fluent in Japanese, the Frenchman, was a calculated go getter who brooked no opposition in furthering the ambitions of, and activities at Moderna. When Bancel assumed office at his new company, people were offering the Science of mRNA, a measly 2%-5% chance of working. That was until employee No.1 Jason Schrum hit pseudo-uridine, or in commercial terms, paydirt! Pseudo-uridine minimized inflammatory responses in the cells and caused high protein production, while extending the mRNA half-life to about a week or nine days.

Despite intermittent successes at research, Moderna, even after ten years of operations, did not have a single product based on mRNA against its time. However 2020 and the COVID-19 changed everything. In tandem with the brilliant Kizzmekia Corbett at NIAID, Bancel and Moderna began a “Stopwatch drill”. Moderna would attempt to race against time in coming out with a vaccine based on mRNA technology that would be used to neutralize the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

An astronomical contrivance of resilience and research led to the development of the Moderna vaccine within an unbelievably short span of time. From Phase I clinical trials where the vaccine was given the plaid name mRNA-1273 to the emergency use authorization by the FDA, it had taken exactly 286 days for Moderna to produce a vaccine that would provide hopes to billions across the globe. The upstart had finally arrived! Laurels started flowing in. The Vatican in May 2021, bestowed upon Stephane Bancel, a “Pontifical Hero Award”; Noubar Afeyan was awarded the Lebanese National Order of Merit, and co-founder Derrick Rossi became the beneficiary of the 2021 Princess of Asturias Award for Technical & Scientific Research. Rossi by this time had parted from Moderna in an acrimonious fashion having taken up cudgels with Bancel and ultimately ousted by the latter.

When COVID-19 first raised its dreaded hood, Moderna had less than $2 billion in cash and 800 employees. The behemoth Pfizer (another contender for the mRNA vaccine) in stark contrast, had a burgeoning treasure chest of $52 billion in annual revenues and a mammoth workforce of 88,000! Just a year and a half later, Moderna would forecast a full year revenue in the range of $15-$18 billion, and in the process barge into the top twenty largest pharmaceutical companies by annual sales in its first full year of having a single commercial product.

The employees and co-founders became overnight billionaires. Stephane Bancel’s stake exceeded $12 billion, Noubar Afeyan’ s VC was richer by $10 billion; and Bob Langer now found himself the custodian of a newly acquired wealth worth $4.5 billion. This prompted some stinging rebuke from people such as Oxfam’s Health Policy Manager, Anna Marriott who viewed making such wealth as not only ill gotten but eking mileage out of misery. Moderna however, tried to get into the good books of altruism by establishing foundations and charities. However the contributions to such charities paled into insignificance before the humongous, jaw dropping profits made by the top brass at Moderna.

More than everything, the success of Moderna represented a new beginning and suffused optimism in the realm of medicine and biotechnology. The proven success of mRNA can only mean hope for patients suffering from cancer and other infectious diseases.

The Messenger – Harbinger of Good tidings!

(The Messenger: Moderna, the Vaccine, and the Business Gamble That Changed the World is published by Harvard Business Review Press, and will be available for sale from the 26th of July 2022 onwards. Thank You, Net Galley for the Advance Reviewer Copy)

[Bryce Kasuba · Rating 5 out of 5]

Peter Loftus has written a fast paced story that I speed through while knowing the ending all along. A happy ending - sure for stockholders and leaders at Moderna, and yes for wealthy countries that benefit from the vaccine. However, this isn’t just the story of getting to the vaccine.

I have a graduate degree in Pharmaceutical Business and wish this had been part of my curriculum. I expect it will be required reading as it offers a case study of a start-up biotech. It isn’t just a business or industry book because Loftus fleshes out these characters, some who we want to believe we know - Fauci….It’s deeply researched, Loftus has written for the WSJ and followed Pharma for years and it shows.

[Hyeyeongie · Rating 4 out of 5]

For a relatively thin book, there’s actually a lot to process

So what’s so special about Moderna that Loftus decided to write one?

For a start, Moderna was a startup company with no products, even until 2010s hadn’t even conducted any human trial of a drug 👀. Hence, it’s most likely that we’ve never heard of it until COVID-19 hits

Secondly, Moderna uses mRNA tech to produce vaccines, a technique that hasn’t been much tested then, giving doubts & thus affecting the funding. It wasn’t until they entered human testing & Data Safety Monitoring Board that we finally knew the science works. No worries, of course they will work since we already have database from the previous SARS-CoV, but up to how many % of efficacy?

“You’re paying the price in some symptoms to educate the immune system to prepare a defense against the coronavirus” -Tal Zaks

Third, they were funded by USA government (lots to tell and that’ll be too long), “competing” against big names like Pfizer, GSK, J&J and Merck.. And extra point to Moderna for being the only company who publicise its 135 pages of protocol when nobody else did. Such transparency!

I’ve always wondered how a biotech/ pharma being established & this book answered some of my questions. Researchers at Moderna were put in such a tremendous amount of time producing vaccines especially during their Stopwatch Drill & Warp Speed while the management kept looking for the budget. It was never holiday for them and I too felt exhausted reading it. I kept getting flashbacks of the news of people dying..schools offices closing..vaccines in trials..hoorey vaccines are ready..huhu another variant and the vaccines weren’t prepared against it..as Stephen Hoge says, “we’ve never been ahead of this virus”

I wish there are more references to these “emotional damage” rather than quoting mostly from the higher ups. And adding infographics!

Nonetheless, I salute Bancel for his leadership (and many names to recall)

Anw, if you’re looking to read more into the science part, you’ll be disappointed because as it happens, this is a business book (psst, scientific journals would satisfy your needs)

TQ Ms @putrifariza and @times.reads for this book!

[ElleninNY · Rating 5 out of 5]

I consider myself a middle-of-the-road person. I was eager to get the COVID vaccine, but not overly paranoid about COVID. When it was my turn, the doctors were saying that we should get whichever shot was offered to us first. That turned out to be Moderna. I couldn't help but wonder where this company had come from, and whether their vaccine was as reputable as Pfizer's.

After reading this book, I understand SO much more about vaccine development. This was a really interesting book that goes behind the scenes to explain how Moderna developed its COVID vaccine, and how important it was to the company. They had the technology; they had just never proved that it worked in a real-life setting. The "characters" aren't characters at all. Fauci is a prominent figure. If you hate him or don't trust him, you probably won't feel any differently after you read the book. But I think you will feel differently about the scientific process. I would say I respect it more because I understand what goes on in the months leading up to a drug getting approved by the FDA.

It's hard to believe that it's 2022 and we're still fighting COVID, and it's frustrating because you could argue that the vaccines don't work. But when you recall the constant death toll in spring 2020, it's clear that we've come a long way. Reading this book reminded me of that.

[anchi · Rating 5 out of 5]

⭐️ 4.5 /5.0

“The Messenger” presents how Moderna, a young biotech company, successfully developed the COVID-19 vaccine with mRNA techniques and became one of the most well-known pharma companies in 2022. Starting from the establishment of Moderna, the company has been fighting against the pharma giants in the world, and the pandemic accidentally gave Moderna a chance to launch its first product.

I enjoy reading this book throughout the journey, and honestly, it is difficult to put it down. Before reading this book, I had little knowledge of the vaccine development process and biotech startups in the US, but this book well-explained the process and dynamic of the industry after the pandemic. The author, Peter Loftus, is a journalist at The Wall Street Journal covering the pharmaceutical and medical-device industry. The book covers a wide array of topics, including fund raising for startups, negotiations with FDA and other officials, competitions within the industry, etc.

This book is great for readers that are particularly interested in the business side behind the vaccines; it is informational but easy to understand.

Thank you NetGalley and Harvard Business Review for this advance review copy, and my review is provided voluntarily.

[Terence · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is an enjoyable read that chronicles the life of Moderna. An important invention in bioscience that allowed a vaccine to be created in less than a year.

I found it amazing that the author could chronical the whole story and then say they made too much money on the vaccine. I understand that there was federal funding, and I could see an argument that says that the government should get a stake in the company. But saying that because something was valuable, it should be less expensive doesn't make sense.

[Brittany · Rating 3 out of 5]

While this book is not very long it took me quite a while to read. It is important to note that this is a business book first and foremost. If you are hoping to read more about the science behind the vaccine, this will not be the best resource. If you are interested in the negotiations and financial aspects of startup companies or are not very familiar with the vaccine industry and development I think that you will really enjoy this book.
Received in a Goodreads Giveaway.

[Krithika · Rating 2 out of 5]

struggles to find an interesting angle or consistent throughline

[Alec Beeve · Rating 3 out of 5]

What starts as an exciting, fast-paced story eventually turns into a repetitive, fatigued slog. But I guess that’s what you get when the COVID pandemic is your setting and source material.

[Kris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Let me just state from the start: I am not in the health care industry or the pharmaceutical business. Thus, I thought this might be a tough read. But, I was so wrong! Loftus does a great job bringing a niche idea into layman’s language and created a readable, interesting, and thorough book. The book is peppered with little antidotes and well-written stories, that make this a great read. This is a fascinating book — such an interesting peek into how pharmaceutical start ups are build, survive and ultimately thrive.

I enjoyed the way Loftus let’s the reader get to know the players involved in Moderna with enough detail and history to become familiar with Moderna’s culture and big goals. I was rooting for them from the start. He takes a lengthy sidebar to explain the science behind the messenger RNA vaccine. It bogged me down for a bit, but ultimately it was extremely helpful in understanding the science and how bits and pieces from various patents and research partners came together.

On a broader note, this is an important piece of history to have summarized and documented. The quest for a vaccine was such an important moment in our country’s history and this book summarizes how Moderna contributed to the mission. Moderna’s solid basis in messenger RNA science put the company in the right place at the right time. Loftus does a great job unfolding the story of Moderna within the story of the quest for a vaccine. Honestly, although the pandemic was just a few years ago, I had forgotten (maybe purposely?) what a dark, scary time it was and how desperately we were all waiting for a vaccine. Loftus creates that feeling again as he describes all the events involved in tests and manufacturing the first vaccine.

[Cheryl Vickroy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written by journalist Peter Loftus, this measured story of Moderna covers the behind-the-scenes happenings with the mRNA vaccine technology underlying Moderna's SpikeVax vaccine, alongside the story of the technology's inventors, company founders and leaders, and the emergency use authorization (EUA) needed to clear the FDA during the Covid-19 pandemic.

This is the field (biotechnology) I've worked in for several years with the earliest of firms... some now defunct and others similarly well-known. So of course I enjoyed this tale!! I especially enjoyed the last chapter ("Just the Beginning") where Loftus ties Moderna's success to societal hopes and expectations of innovative firms as they launch miracle drugs or vaccines. Loftus did a great job of raising some of the most common ethical concerns about capitalism.

My only wish is that he could or would have captured more of the emotion involved. He does reference the non-stop work required of so many to bring this vaccine to market, and as a journalist he objectively ticks through what's happened over time to the major players.

In my own humble experience, he didn't quite capture the roller coaster of emotion often associated with tiny firms as they commercialize (or fail to) the work their founders love.

[Douglass Gaking · Rating 4 out of 5]

The development of the mRNA COVID-19 vaccine by Moderna, a company that had previously never taken a healthcare product all the way to the market, is a pretty amazing story. When it all happened, I was too busy reading up on the science and thinking about its implications for myself and my family. It's nice to look back on it now and get the story of the people behind it:
-the investors, executives, scientists, and early employees of Moderna who took big risks to try to develop an unproven theoretical approach to medicine
-the lone scientist in a basement lab on mRNA before COVID-19 was even a thing
-the scientists, assembly line workers, and executives putting in 18-hour days and 7-day weeks for a year trying to get the vaccine to the market.
Many don't realize how much risk and sacrifice went into this and where the money made from it went. This book uncovers some of that story. It's a great lesson in how the biotech industry and health sciences startups work. Well worth a read for anyone interested in both the business and the science sides of fighting the pandemic.

[Dan Watts · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a reasonably easy-to-understand recounting of Moderna's effort to quickly create and manufacture its first COVID-19 vaccine. It was a miraculous achievement considering that it was Moderna's first product, but the book underplays the drama.

The first quarter of the book precedes COVID-19, dealing with Moderna's formation and early years. It focuses on the company's fund-raising and business plan, not the science, so I found it rather dull.

The remainder of the book is about the COVID-19 vaccine. Its focus remains on how the business was run, not how the vaccine was designed. I think I would have preferred more information on the science, but perhaps that would have been over my head.

Overall, the writing is pretty dry. It would have been a more interesting read if it picked out some of the key employees and told the inside story of the vaccine from their perspective. There is a bit of that, particularly for the company's CEO, but it's mostly information that was publicly disclosed by the company such as the results of drug trials and manufacturing yields.

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book. It is well written, with a conversational tone. The book is a good look at the business side of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine but falls short on the science content, but what science there is was well-explained. There is also a good discussion about regulations and vaccine equity (for a good discussion of vaccine equity, see “Preventing the Next Pandemic” by Dr. Peter Hotez). The scope of the book is narrow in that it really is only about the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine and there is not much on the other vaccines, except from a competition point of view. There also wasn’t that much biographical information and I found that the book lacked a certain empathy.. Nonetheless, I found the book hard to put down and even though I knew a lot of the story through the news, it still read a little like a thriller. Thank you to Netgalley and Harvard Business Review Press for the advance reader copy.

[Judy Naylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting book!

I received the Moderna vaccine and boosters, so I was interested in finding out the story of this company and development of the COVID-19 vaccine. The science was explained in an easy-to-understand way, so if you don't have a science background, never fear, you can and enjoy read this book. I hadn't really understood how drugs and vaccines are developed, tested and approved - and why it takes such a long time - this book was a real eye-opener to the process. And knowing this background helps you understand why the short time frame of the COVID-19 vaccine development was such an achievement.

The stories of the various personalities involved were interesting as well. And the legal wrangling over patents - I really had no idea. I learned a lot and was entertained by the story at the same time. Bravo to the author for a great book!

Thank you to Harvard Business Review Press and Goodreads for the advance reader copy.

[Seth · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very timely book that tells the intersecting stories of the biotech company Moderna and the covid pandemic which made it a household name. Using targeted strands of mRNA to equip cells with the blueprint for needed proteins is a remarkable achievement and it took a great deal of scientific vision and persistence to develop. Finding the right medical application to help scale a business was also a very uncertain proposition and the covid pandemic was – in hindsight – the perfect opportunity. How this new solution met the right problem makes for a dramatic tale.

This is a work of business journalism which gives the reader much more detail about the careers of the founders, executives, and investors than about the underlying molecular biology and biochemistry. It works very well for its intended audience, but some readers may crave more scientific background on the technology.

[Faisal Chairul · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tahun lalu saya baca dua buku tentang pengembangan vaksin COVID-19, Pfizer (berjudul Moonshot: Inside Pfizer's Nine-Month Race to Make the Impossible Possible karya CEO Albert Bourla) dan Oxford-AstraZeneca (berjudul Vaxxers karya chief scientist officer Prof. Sarah Gilbert dan rekannya Dr. Catherine Green). Saya tidak terlalu kagum dengan buku "Moonshot" karena nuansa glorifikasi perusahaan yang lebih terasa dibandingkan perjalanannya mengembangkan vaksin, sementara saya lumayan mengagumi buku "Vaxxers" karena membahas hal-hal teknis maupun non-teknis terkait pengembangan vaksinnya. Setelah membaca buku ini, "The Messenger", yang bercerita tentang Moderna sebagai entitas perusahaan dan entitas vaksin, saya sangat mengaguminya. Rasanya saya akan sangat menyesal kalau tidak segera mengulas buku ini.

Penulis, Peter Loftus, merupakan penulis Wall Street Journal yang fokus pada industri farmasi dan kesehatan masyarakat. Objektivitas sebagai "orang luar" menjadi poin tambahan awal. Ternyata, buat saya, buku ini sangat komprehensif. Moderna sebagai entitas perusahaan maupun entitas vaksin dibahas secara menyeluruh, mulai dari cerita bagaimana saintis Derick Rossi mengembangkan teknologi vektor mRNA-nya sendiri dari penelitian Katalin Karikó dan Drew Weismann, yang membuat mereka diberikan penghargaan Hadiah Nobel tahun 2023, pada tahun 2008-2009. Cerita berlanjut ke penggunaan teknologi vektor mRNA itu untuk pengembangan imunoterapi maupun vaksin, yang pada tahun 2017, setelah 7 tahun penuh lika-liku, berhasil mengembangkan vaksin yang aman untuk virus H10N8.

Tidak hanya dari sisi sains saja yang dibahas secara komprehensif, sisi bisnisnya pun juga. Dibahas bagaimana privilese awal yang dimiliki Derick Rossi yang labnya berada di wilayah Kendall Square, tempat dimana universitas-universitas (terutama MİT) berambisi untuk mengkonversi penelitian-penelitian menjanjikan menjadi sebuah bisnis startup biotech. Kemudian, diceritakan juga bagaimana pertemuan demi pertemuan antara saintis, pemodal ventura, dan pebisnis dalam mengembangkan sebuah startup biotech. Penunjukan Stéphane Bancel, seseorang yang telah mapan jabatannya di perusahaan sebelumnya yang ditawarkan untuk memimpin Moderna, startup yang belum jelas masa depannya.

Diceritakan juga bagaimana lika-liku pencarian dana, baik itu untuk operasional penelitian ketika masih mengembangkan vaksin H10N8 (penelitian awal) maupun untuk scale-up dan distribusi vaksin COVID-19 (mulai tahun 2020). Diceritakan pula bagaimana perkembangan perusahaan perlahan demi perlahan yang "menuntut" pemenuhan kebutuhan personel yang lebih "capable". Hingga pada cerita bagaimana perusahaan mempersiapkan proses scale-up yang memerlukan beberapa titik lokasi baik di dalam negeri maupun luar negeri (Eropa) untuk pemenuhan target "pasar". Di bagian akhir, diceritakan bagaimana diperlukan penyesuaian vaksin ketika dihadapkan pada varian virus SARS-CoV2 baru, baik yang varian Afrika Selatan maupun varian Delta. Penyesuaian berkaitan baik itu dengan penyesuaian muatan inti vaksin maupun perlukah adanya suntikan booster (dosis ketiga) beserta jumlah dosisnya.

[Sree Gayathri · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very engaging. Peter did a great job summarizing ups and downs of the company from its disaster IPO bets to bring one of successful biotechs with billions of revenue with their first commercial product. It’s interesting to understand the other competing players in Covid vaccines space and how tech performs compared to Pfizer one. The close proximity with feds in operation warp speed gave firm significant advantage in distribution and approvals compared to independent approach Pfizer took. Definitely a read that goes quite along Pfizer’s moonshot book that covers its Covid 19 story

[Colleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have followed Loftus' writing in the Wall Street Journal for a long time. Loftus' thorough research and easy to read writing style helped me understand this moment in time better and how the vaccine was developed. The pandemic, and the time period of vaccine development, is slowly becoming a period in history we will debate for a long time. This book will always be a very relevant source and I expect sales will increase more and more as time passes!

[Deborah Quazzo · Rating 4 out of 5]

An important reporting of the miraculous validation of mRNA in the face of the covid pandemic and just what humans can accomplish. Moderna saved millions of lives so debating the merits of whether they should have profited for that seems moot to me. We should celebrate the ingenuity and brilliance of global science and manufacturing IMO.

[Simon Riddell]

Fast, but interesting read, which detailed the long-run vision and strategy behind Moderna. Going into detail on the executive management strategy, as well as how funding was raised. It drives home the idea that the private sector was working on solving this pandemic years before anyone else was thinking of it. A marvel of the invisible hand.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fantastic read. Incredibly comprehensive account of Moderna in the past decade and it’s role in the COVID vaccination development. I appreciated the balanced take. The author offered fair criticisms in the context of executive compensation and the general rollout of the vaccines to developed nations. All in all this was an enjoyable account of an incredibly interesting topic.

[Cat Roule · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really interesting in depth look at how Moderna developed a vaccine against the Covid 19 virus. Part science, part business book, where failure is not an option.
Thanks to Goodreads Giveaways and Harvard Business Reviews for this advanced copy.

[CS · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting book with insightful information. I found some passages a bit too detailed and lengthy but overall a great read

[Valay S · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loftus tells a compelling origin story of Moderna's origins with a behinds-the-scenes look of COVID19-related decision-making. The book starts off strong and somewhat falters at the end.

[Carolyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

My kind of fascinating…

[Allisonperkel · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was still to raw to read about the pandemic and the insanity of the trump years. Still, the story of Moderna is inspiring.