Two Moderna Execs Sold $30 Million in Company Stocks After Hyping Promising Vaccine Results

Two of biotech company Moderna’s top executives dumped millions in company stocks just as the value peaked by 30 percent on news of early success in clinical trials for a COVID-19 vaccine. But right before medical reviews suggested that the results weren’t as promising as had been hyped, the company’s chief financial officer and chief medical officer sold off $30 million in company shares through an automated system that reads futures on certain volatile stocks. CNN Business reports that Lorence Kim, Moderna’s CFO, exercised 241,000 options for $3 million on Monday and then quickly sold them for $19.8 million, creating a profit of $16.8 million. Tal Zaks, Moderna’s chief medical officer, spent $1.5 million to exercise options the next day and then immediately sold the shares for $9.77 million, making a hefty profit of $8.2 million. Moderna says that because the sales were executed under a so-called 10b5-1 plan established in advance, they are not suspect. Former Moderna director Moncef Slaoui recently left the company to lead the White House’s vaccine development effort.