Cambridge Firms Wins Zika Grant

CAMBRIDGE, MA — A Cambridge biotech company has scored a federal grant geared toward creating a vaccine to combat the Zika virus.

Moderna Therapeutics listed the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority grant alongside an announcement Wednesday that the firm has raised $474 million in equity financing.

The BARDA grant will cover up to $125 million to advance a Zika mRNA vaccine, Moderna said.

"We are pivoting toward a new chapter in our company’s history, and we feel privileged to deploy our substantial capital resources to advance our mission to deliver on the promise of mRNA therapeutics as an entire new class of medicines," Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel said in a press release.

Read more from Moderna here.

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