Moderna Therapeutics Named to the World Economic Forum's Community of "Global Growth Companies"

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Oct. 24, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Moderna Therapeutics, the pioneering company developing messenger RNA (mRNA) therapeutics™, a revolutionary new treatment modality to enable the in vivo production of therapeutic proteins, has been named to the World Economic Forum's community of the fastest-growing "Global Growth Companies" (GGC).

Moderna is one of three North American global health companies to receive this year's honor and is recognized by the Forum for being an industry leader in innovative mRNA therapeutics. The company's initial focus is on developing and commercializing its therapeutics in oncology and rare diseases, and it will partner future drug candidates in areas such as cardiovascular and metabolic disorders. In addition, Moderna was recently awarded a grant by the United States Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to develop mRNA drugs to protect against a wide range of known and unknown emerging infectious diseases and engineered biological threats.

"When choosing entrants to our Community of Global Growth Companies, we assess companies on their business model, annual revenues and growth rates, executive leadership and market position," said David Aikman, Managing Director, Head of New Champions, World Economic Forum. "Moderna is a pioneering group with clear potential to shape the future in its relevant business sectors and so is a perfect fit to our GGC community."

"We take our commitment to delivering on the promise of messenger RNA therapeutics very seriously, as it has the potential to transform the lives of patients with a wide range of diseases, including many that are untreatable today," said Stephane Bancel, president and founding CEO of Moderna. "We are honored to be recognized for our efforts to advance our platform and ensure its potential is realized on a global scale, and we look forward to being a member of the World Economic Forum community."

The World Economic Forum's Community of Global Growth Companies (GGC) was formed in 2007 to engage dynamic high-growth companies with the potential to be tomorrow's industry leaders and to become a driving force of economic and social change. Members of the Community of Global Growth Companies convene every year at the Chinese-hosted Annual Meeting of the New Champions and at the World Economic Forum's regional meetings, and collaborate through the private area of the World Economic Forum's website, an exclusive online networking platform for business and government leaders. Learn more at http://www.weforum.org/ggc.

About the World Economic Forum
The World Economic Forum is an independent international organization committed to improving the state of the world by engaging leaders in partnerships to shape global, regional and industry agendas. Incorporated as a foundation in 1971, and headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, the World Economic Forum is impartial and not-for-profit; it is tied to no political, partisan or national interests (http://www.weforum.org).

About Moderna Therapeutics
Moderna is pioneering messenger RNA therapeutics™, an entirely new in vivo drug modality that produces human proteins or antibodies inside patient cells, which are in turn active intracellularly or secreted. This breakthrough platform addresses currently undruggable targets and offers a superior alternative to existing drug modalities for a wide range of disease conditions. Moderna has developed a broad intellectual property estate, including more than 200 patent applications with more than 10,000 claims ranging from novel nucleotide chemistries to specific drug compositions. The company plans to develop and commercialize its innovative mRNA drugs—initially for rare diseases and oncology—while partnering drug candidates in other therapeutic areas in order to rapidly deliver this innovation to patients. Moderna is a privately held company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Visit www.modernatx.com to learn more.

For information contact:
Maria Favorito
617-761-6720
[email protected]

SOURCE Moderna Therapeutics