Free Republic

NEW YORK DAILY NEWSA 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. Slaoui, a veteran Big Pharma exec, holds 156,000 stock options that increased in value...

The newly installed Trump administration vaccine czar said early clinical data gives him confidence there will be 200 to 300 million doses by the end of the year. “I have very recently seen early data from a clinical trial with a coronavirus vaccine and these data made me feel even more confident that we will be able to deliver a few hundred million doses of vaccine by the end of 2020,” Dr. Moncef Slaoui said during an event announcing his post at the White House’s Rose Garden on Friday. Slaoui sits on the board of Moderna, a U.S. company that’s...