Moderna‘s stock was surging Friday after the biotech company announced it has received as much as $483 million in federal funding to accelerate development of a coronavirus vaccine.
Shares of the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based firm opened more than 12% higher to around $46. During Thursday’s session, the stock hit an intraday all-time high of $41.55.
Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel said Friday on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” that the funding is particularly critical in aiding manufacturing efforts.
“Instead of waiting for the data and then scaling up with manufacturing process … we can make as many doses as we can. We are doing both in parallel,” he said. The company plans to hire up to 150 people to support the effort.
Bancel said the company “couldn’t have done this” without the funding commitment from the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, which is part of the Department of Health and Human Services.
Moderna has partnered with the National Institutes of Health on…
