What happened
Thursday was not generally a memorable day for coronavirus stocks, and not only because the pandemic seems to be receding. A pronouncement by federal government officials pushed down the prices of the most prominent ones, including Moderna (MRNA 1.69%) and Germany's BioNTech (BNTX 0.58%). The share prices of the two lost over 4% and slightly more than 3%, respectively, on the day.
So what
In remarks quoted widely by the media Thursday morning, Dr. Anthony Fauci said that certain technologies currently being developed by the government's National Institutes of Health (NIH) will be licensed to the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations-affiliated Medicines Patent Pool. Those two organizations will be able to utilize the technologies to help develop vaccines and drugs that combat COVID.
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Fauci is the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and in many ways is the "face" of the government's pandemic response. The precise technologies that would be transferred under this plan have not yet been finalized, according to Fauci.
It doesn't seem as if the scheme will include the processes and technologies devised by private healthcare companies like Moderna and BioNTech -- both of which have developed, alone or in partnership, coronavirus vaccines currently in widespread use. An article on the matter published in The Washington Post cited "three people familiar with the matter," stressing that only federal resources would be utilized.
Now what
Investors might not have bought the assertion that no technologies used by private companies will be transferred under the plan. The government's efforts and those of for-profit enterprises have merged at times. This is particularly the case with Moderna, which harnessed NIH-developed technology to devise its mRNA-based vaccine.
Through its words and actions, it's clear that the U.S. government recognizes the value of the contribution that such companies made. So it's likely to take pains to keep hands off the most sensitive private-sector vaccine and drug technology. As such, this negative, knee-jerk reaction by Moderna and BioNTech shareholders feels unjustified.
