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

Wall Street Journal reporter Loftus charts in his captivating debut Moderna’s spectacular rise from a small biotech company with “no products [and] no profits” in 2018 to a key player in the race for a Covid-19 vaccine. Moderna’s success, Loftus writes, was “as improbable as it was miraculous” and due to the company’s gamble on using messenger RNA in its vaccine, as regulators had never approved its use as a drug. The vaccine failing or the virus “fizzl[ing] away like past outbreaks,” he posits, would’ve been a costly misstep for the company. Instead, the company became “a household name... on track to book more than $7 billion in profit for the first nine months of 2021.” Interviewing more than 150 insiders, including CEO Stéphane Bancel, Loftus pulls back the curtain on the vaccine development process as the pandemic raged: there were threatened patent fights, political hurdles, and complex logistical challenges in trialing and distributing the vaccine to millions of people. Loftus achieves no small feat with his sharp reporting: it’s gripping from page one, despite the fact that most readers already know the outcome. This is a great look at the business of pandemic medicine. Agent: Eric Lupfer, Fletcher & Co. (July)