AstraZeneca likely received over $1bn from selling its shares, having invested $140m in the publicly listed covid-19 vaccine developer in 2015.

Pharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca divested its stake in US-listed RNA therapeutics and vaccine developer Moderna for an amount likely to be above $1bn, Reuters reported yesterday, citing the former’s annual report.

Moderna specialises in drugs and vaccines that inject messenger RNA into human cells to spur production of certain proteins. In the past year its share price has soared approximately sixfold, mainly due to it being one of the first to successfully produce a vaccine for covid-19.

The company had floated…

Robert Lavine

Robert Lavine is special features editor for Global Venturing.