The co-founder of Moderna Inc., one of the most high profile companies to produce an effective mRNA COVID-19 vaccine, did not himself get a Moderna shot. He got a Pfizer dose. Does that seem odd? It shouldn’t, he says.
“I’m really pleased about getting Pfizer because I do a lot of advocacy for taking vaccines. I think it’s really good for me, the founder of Moderna, to say I got the one that was offered. I wasn’t vaccine shopping. All of them that are approved should be taken.”
Derrick Rossi, a stem-cell biologist who retired from Harvard University and Moderna in his early 50s to found a string of biotech firms, joined The RBC Conversation show to discuss vaccines and vaccine hesitancy, the speed with which we were able to produce them, entrepreneurship, and the role that Operation Warp Speed played in ending the pandemic.
“It was a really smart idea, because science, like any other industry, moves at the pace with which it can access resources. Not all companies took Warp Speed money. Pfizer didn’t because it’s a giant company and didn’t want to be beholden. Moderna, on the other hand, took Warp Speed money. So now you’re not risking your own money. And in biotech you have to think about risk mitigation.”
As for what it would take to build a similarly thriving biotech hub here in Canada as the one in Boston/Cambridge where Moderna was born? An academic institution, dedicated land to house a viable ecosystem of incubators, and a suitable regulatory environment for pharmaceutical companies are all key.
“Well, I’ve said you need to do it near a top-tier academic institution. I keep pushing Toronto because it’s my hometown. Then you need land — a lot of it. You need a real estate developer to build a bunch of biotech incubators. Then leave a big patch [of land]. So when pharma wants to come, it can expand out from this hub.”
