Moderna: The Software of Life - [Business Breakdowns, EP. 13]

Today, we will be diving into Moderna. We start with a primer on the biotech industry, cover the history of programming cells, and what differentiates Moderna from other biotech companies.

I’m joined today by two guests. Jason Kelly is the CEO of Gingko Bioworks and Matthew Harrison is a biotech analyst at Morgan Stanley.
For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here:
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Show Notes -
[00:00:00] - Introduction
[00:02:31] - [First question] - What is a biotech company?
[00:03:50] - Defining Moderna as a company in the biotech space
[00:05:15] - Bridging the gap between biotech and gene-tech
[00:06:02] - Overview of the history of learning to program cells
[00:07:46] - Big milestones from the discovery to the human genome project
[00:10:03] - Technical process and tool of how one modifies and copies genes
[00:11:45] - The scale and tools of modern DNA design
[00:14:05] - What the Moderna vaccine is and how it works
[00:17:24] - The first engineered drug of its kind 
[00:18:24] - Other areas where synthetic biology appears in everyday life
[00:22:19] - How many sectors this type of technology will disrupt
[00:23:32] - The history of Moderna and how they came to be
[00:24:41] - What problem Moderna tries to solve and how they approach it
[00:27:11] - Unique deal components in therapeutics and the FDA
[00:29:06] - Key factors that will make Moderna a dominant player in the near future 
[00:30:01] - How Genentech became as big as they did 
[00:30:53] - Competitive and compounded advantages for biotech companies
[00:32:09] - Lessons for investors and entrepreneurs in studying Moderna’s story
[00:34:10] - What is Moderna and how it got started
[00:36:10] - Typical route taken for a drug maker and how Moderna is different
[00:37:16] - What separates Moderna from others in the biotech space today
[00:39:12] - The role software and technology has played a role in Moderna’s success
[00:41:42] - Cementing their position through breakthroughs and capitalizing on them 
[00:42:58] - How Moderna generates their revenue 
[00:44:45] - Overview of cost of sales, expense buckets and gross margin
[00:46:20] - Factors involved in how one valuates a biotech company
[00:47:15] - How many drugs are in Moderna’s pipeline compared to others
[00:51:26] - Risks of drug development and their market potential
[00:54:01] - Internal operations of drug development and what separates Moderna
[00:57:17] - Comparing Moderna’s mRNA to others on the market 
[00:59:44] - High level breakdown of pharmaceutical R&D
[01:01:33] - Other P&L and financial components that arise given the nature of biotech 
[01:03:09] - Contrast between the Moderna and Pfizer vaccine
[01:04:18] - What Moderna will have to get right in order to become the next Pfizer 
[01:05:38] - What Moderna would have to get wrong to limit their growth
[01:07:24] - Company culture and the importance of management
[01:08:06] - Lessons for builders and entrepreneurs in studying Moderna’s story

#businessbreakdowns #moderna