Goodwin represented longtime client Moderna Therapeutics, a clinical stage biotech company pioneering mRNA Therapeutics™ to create a new generation of transformative medicines for patients, in its $474 million financing. One of the largest private financing rounds in the biotech industry, this surpasses Moderna’s own record set in a January 2015 financing. This latest equity financing includes strong support from existing institutional investors and world-class strategic pharmaceutical partners as well as participation of new institutional investors from the United States, Europe and Asia.
With this financing completed, Moderna currently has $1.4 billion in cash on its balance sheet and the potential for over $230 million of additional available funds from grants committed by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), a division of the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for up to $125 million to advance a Zika mRNA vaccine, and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).
Moderna is a clinical stage pioneer of messenger RNA Therapeutics™, an entirely new in vivo drug technology that produces human proteins, antibodies and entirely novel protein constructs inside patient cells, which are in turn secreted or active intracellularly. This breakthrough platform addresses currently undruggable targets and offers a potentially superior alternative to existing drug modalities for a wide range of diseases and conditions.
The Goodwin team advising Moderna was led by partners Stuart Cable, John Mutkoski and Kingsley Taft and associate Yasin Akbari.
Goodwin has previously represented Moderna on a number of matters including a July 2016 strategic collaboration and license agreement with Merck and the aforementioned record-setting January 2015 fundraising.