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There is also this article on Moderna which were having problems with its tech back in 2017. Below I included some interesting excerpts but I think the article is worth a read:

https://www.statnews.com/2017/01/10/moderna-trouble-mrna/

They were focused on treatment of rare diseases but safety issues arose so they switched course, focusing on vaccines which would be single use:

"His presentation instead focused on four vaccines that the company is moving through the first phase of clinical trials: two target strains of influenza, a third is for Zika virus, and the fourth remains a secret."

I recall that vaccines were being developed for Zika and many billions were wasted when the virus seemed to just go away. I wonder was the fourth candidate was?

Some info about the start of the company:

"Founded in 2012, Moderna reached unicorn status — a $1 billion valuation — in just two years, faster than Uber, Dropbox, and Lyft, according to CB Insights. The company’s premise: Using custom-built strands of messenger RNA, known as mRNA, it aims to turn the body’s cells into ad hoc drug factories, compelling them to produce the proteins needed to treat a wide variety of diseases.

But mRNA is a tricky technology. Several major pharmaceutical companies have tried and abandoned the idea, struggling to get mRNA into cells without triggering nasty side effects."

I think Bancel was also involved in helping build the Wuhan Institute of Virology? Also didn't Moderna have some ties to Barda? A deep dive into Moderna and its founder Bancel would be interesting.

There is also mention of Astrazeneca and a cardiac drug:

"The drugs it is pushing along now, by contrast, are more modest, relying on single administrations of mRNA. Beyond the four vaccines, it has one early-stage clinical trial targeting cardiac disease, launched just last month by partner AstraZeneca. The treatment involves a one-time dose and doesn’t use the tricky nanoparticle casing."

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