Stéphane Bancel is the one who runs Moderna from the Boston campus of Cambridge, Mecca of global biotech where the company is located.

A brand new method

In 2011, Stéphane Bancel took the helm of the very young Moderna company, which aims to develop therapies based on messenger RNA technology. From 2013, Moderna collaborated with AstraZeneca to develop products targeting cardiovascular diseases among others. A new collaboration between the two companies was launched in 2016 on an immuno-oncology program. Moderna is taking center stage during the Covid-19 pandemic by working on vaccine development. To create this vaccine, Moderna used a brand new method: messenger RNA. He promotes his research on messenger RNA, while no one really pays attention to it. But he manages, armed with a solid force of conviction and sure of his vision, to raise the funds to continue on this path for years. Without Moderna, however, succeeding in marketing products.

Turnaround of history

Everything changes with the sudden onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. Biotech develops a vaccine in 42 days. A feat! All eyes then turn to Stéphane Bancel, In two years, Moderna has become a profitable company weighing 98 billion dollars on the stock market. However, Stéphane Bancel, announced the sale of all of his stock options for the benefit of charities. “Brenda [his wife] and I will be donating all after-tax proceeds from my stock options since joining Moderna,” the biotech boss wrote on Tuesday, May 24. The vaccine has made his fortune but it does not interest him. Since January 2020, Stéphane Bancel’s wealth has multiplied by 23. Estimated at 460 million dollars before the Covid crisis, the fortune of the boss of Moderna now peaks at 10.7 billion dollars according to the Bloomberg Billionaire Index. The Frenchman exiled in the United States, who owns 6% of the biotech behind the messenger RNA vaccine against Covid, is now the 225th fortune in the world and the 6th in France.