Vaccine Wars | Long Shot | 3

Business Wars

Wondery

History, Business, David Brown, Management

4.6 • 13.2K Ratings

🗓️ 26 April 2021

⏱️ 31 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

It’s February 2020 and drugmaker Moderna’s sprinting ahead – its Covid vaccine is already poised to enter human trials.

But Moderna and its rivals know plenty of vaccines never make it out of trials alive. It’s also going to take a lot of manufacturing muscle to inoculate the world. All of which costs a lot of moolah.

And if the vaccine makers can’t secure a deep-pocketed partner in time, they’re going to get disqualified from the race.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, prime members, you can listen to Business Wars Add Free on Amazon Music. Download the app today.
0:15.0	February 24, 2020.
0:18.0	80,000 infections worldwide.
0:21.0	2600 dead.
0:24.0	It's late evening, and in the loading bay of Moderna's factory in Norwood, Massachusetts,
0:31.0	two employees wheel a pallet of boxes toward a waiting truck. An anxious man with a five o'clock shadow watches them.
0:39.0	He's won Andres, Moderna's head of operations. Andres frowns as the workers shove the pallet hard onto the ramp that leads to the truck.
0:50.0	Be careful. Take it slow. We can't lose a single vile.
0:56.0	The workers cautiously resume their task, chasing by the knowledge that these boxes contained the first batch of Moderna's vaccine made for human trials.
1:07.0	It's day 42 of Moderna's breathless race to create the world's first COVID-19 vaccine. A blur of lost weekends, caffeine-powered early starts and anxiety-filled late night.
1:19.0	Moderna's team has designed an mRNA molecule that will train the body to fight the virus. They've manufactured it, tested it on mice, and insured the doses are free of contamination.
1:31.0	Now, those same doses tucked away in the boxes Andres is so worried about are going to the US government's national institutes of health in Bethesda, Maryland for further testing.
1:43.0	If all goes well, those doses will be injected into the arms of the first human volunteers.
1:50.0	After the boxes are loaded, Andres climbs into the back of the truck. He shivers as he checks the temperature gauge. It's minus 13 degrees Fahrenheit.
2:02.0	mRNA is a sensitive molecule and super cold storage prevents it from breaking down and transit. The truck driver pokes his head around the door.
2:13.0	The guys say everything is loaded. Just need your autograph and I'm ready to roll.
2:17.0	Hold up. I need to make sure the GPS tracker works. GPS? Didn't they tell you my rigs got one? Yeah, but I want...
2:26.0	I need to be sure this gets to Bethesda. There's no room for error. Lives are at stake. The driver takes a deep breath.
2:34.0	Yeah, this might be the most important cargo I ever hauled.
2:40.0	Andres watches as the truck rumbles out the gates and begins its overnight drive to Maryland.
2:47.0	As it turns the corner and disappears from view, Andres checks his phone.
2:52.0	On a map, he sees the pulsating dot of the GPS tracker heading towards the highway.
	...

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