As he huddled next to the heater, he searched Google for international flights out of Wuhan. Upstairs, her kids were still asleep when she slid into her car and drove downtown. "We believe that our platform is going to make a difference, and we believe that we're uniquely capable of responding to this pandemic. As people across the country saw more and more of Bennett's photographs of the Wisconsin Dells, they began to flock to Kilbourn City to see the rock formations in person. Bennett was born in Farnham, Quebec and raised in Brattleboro, Vermont. One executive mentioned that several biotechs were chasing the vaccine. In late April, Moderna was still at the front of the pack, planning on Phase 2 trials this summer and then Phase 3 trials in the fall. Lets get this started. Here, we show that mRNA-1273 induces both potent neutralizing antibody and CD8 T cell responses and protects against SARS-CoV-2 infection in lungs and noses of mice without evidence of immunopathology. Early Monday morning, Modernas scientists went to work on a COVID-19 vaccine. SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccine design enabled by prototype pathogen Haller picked up the phone and called her mother. Douty died in 1884 and Bennett married Evaline Marshall in 1890, with whom he had two more children. It was no longer just an interesting experiment on a clinical scale. Human Health. Andreswho was expecting something more along the lines of, Do you want lettuce and tomato on that?was taken aback. Once inside the cell, that piece of DNA codes for a specific piece of the pathogen that sparks the desired immune response. Thats when he realized: Everyone was following the projects progress. Less than a year ago, little was known about the mysterious virus that was sickening dozens in Just two days after the first complete genome of the virus was mapped and publicly posted online in early January, Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine candidate, mRNA-1273, was finalized. Since its emergence in December 2019, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has accounted for more than 16 million cases of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) diagnosed worldwide in its first 7 months 3. In Davos, he hammered out a collaboration agreement with the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), a foundation that finances infectious-disease research, to produce Phase 1 of the vaccine. Almost twenty years later, hes still baby faced and his hair is still jet black, though hes no longer always the youngest guy in the room. At the time, 35-year-old Hamilton Bennett, the senior director of vaccine access and partnerships at Moderna, a small, then-relatively unknown biotech company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, did not anticipate that her team's years of work would soon be thrust into the global spotlight when Moderna became the first American company to jump into the race to a [2] Early life [ edit] They are also relatively easy to scale and produceyou can design any mRNA vaccine in the world on a computer and manufacture it in a single facility regardless of what disease it is for. mRNA-1273 is currently in a Phase 2 clinical trial with a trajectory towards Phase 3 efficacy evaluation. She might not be on the frontline, but she at least wanted to be on the battlefield. Moderna, the little-known biotech company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, has been at the forefront of vaccine development since the outbreak. Over several days, Bancel gathered with colleagues to plot out a foolproof shipping strategy. Barouchs lab had already designed its own COVID-19 virus vaccine as an academic exercise soon after the sequence became available. Hamilton Bennett | Vaccine Congress USA In the meantime, at Modernaand for all of usthe clock is still ticking. They wanted to see how it would play out. It was a gamble. Similar debates were taking place among many of the world's top pharmaceutical firms, according to Bennett, who described a late-January industry conference call about emerging infectious diseases where several top echelon executives had expressed concerns about the risks of joining the global efforts. Back at the plant the next day, the team prepared the vials for shipping. As fast as they were working in Modernas state-of-the-art Norwood plant, everyone wanted to move faster. This happened so many times that she eventually ditched the software altogether. Five Healthful Boston-Area Meal-Delivery Services, Introducing Our 2021 List of Top Dentists, This search result is here to prevent scraping, On the Market: A Penthouse Unit in a Former Boston Brewery, Here's Where to Find the Best Fish and Chips in Boston, Here are the 2023 Boston Marathon Winners, The Interview: Crime-Fiction TV Writer and Novelist Dennis Lehane, Careers and Internships at Boston Magazine. Bancel shook his head. The news only strengthened Hallers resolve to participate in Modernas trials. We are comfortable with that.. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. As he spent time with two prominent infectious-disease experts from Europe, they were receiving a constant stream of information from their contacts on the ground in China, including Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak. Competing Interest Statement On an industry conference call about emerging infectious diseases on January 29, Bennett listened in as representatives from major pharmaceutical companies hedged and dodged. Dan Barouch, who heads the Center for Virology and Vaccine Research at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, is something of a prodigy, having run his own research lab since the age of 29. Bennett loaded a boat with his photographic equipment and took many pictures of the Dells. As the days and nights ground on, the intensity and relentless rhythm of the work started to wear on Bennett. Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the causative agent of a global pandemic that has led to more than 2.8 million deaths worldwide. Stand up for innovation. Can I call you right now?. Hamilton Bennett | 2021 40 Under 40 | Fortune That weekend the Chinese government posted the viruss sequence. Almost overnight, Bostons streets became eerily quiet as life as we knew it drifted further into a new normal. Okay, Bennett said under her breath, her microphone on mute. The company had also been working for years in conjunction with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) on bringing a new class of vaccines to market. Much of it wasnt even public and yet here they were, turning their phone screens toward Bancel for him to see. But a vaccine based on mRNA had never been approved or authorized by the FDA before. Bennett considered the project a moral imperative even though success was far from guaranteed and the still-young biotech firm had yet to get a single product to market. Bennett, a self-described "public-health nerd" with a master's degree in environmental microbiology, had sought a job at the company after hearing it was working on mRNA-based vaccines for new. We need to talk., Within an hour, Barouch had his reply. This sounds risky, one of them told her. On February 6, Bennett had just left work when her car broke down. On January 23, Moderna and CEPI went public with the newsbut Bancels attention was focused on the information coming out of Wuhan that day. Haller wasnt fazed. Hamilton Bennett - BIO International Convention | BIO ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR, VACCINE ACCESS AND PARTNERSHIPS, MODERNA THERAPEUTICS, INC Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States Hamilton Bennett (she/her) is the Senior Director of Vaccine Access and Partnerships at Moderna, a company pioneering messenger RNA (mRNA) therapeutics and vaccines. In the midst of much uncertainty and chaos, Bennett, has emerged as one of the unsung heroes of the pandemic, working feverishly and tirelessly behind the scenes throughout the year to help engineer a vaccine that could potentially save millions of lives. After Bennett created the new shutter, he was able to take clear pictures of moving subjects. The message came from the director of quality control. Moderna says its mRNA Access program could help with the next pandemic - Drug Discovery . Hamilton Bennett - Senior Director, Vaccine Access and Partnerships The cat is out of the bag, he thought. He lunged for it. I was so focused on the program, and I would leave the office at 10 o'clock at night. Just two months later, Moderna began its NIH-led phase 1 study. She felt as though there was nothing she could do. He clicked on the story and scrolled down looking for details: 59 people sick with viral pneumonia. Contact an All American Speakers Bureau booking agent. We will see what they can do, he said. If they werent, their time, effort, and resources would be wasted, and theyd have to backtrack and start over. Hamilton Bennett works in the Research industry. Bennett described. Haller wasnt worried. It had taken only 25 days. As he made his way past security and into the West Wing, Bancel, who still thought of himself as a middle-class kid from the south of France despite having amassed a fortune after Modernas record-breaking 2018 IPO, felt humbled by the invitation. Hamilton Bennett Biography | Booking Info for Speaking Engagements As new data shows kids in a mental health crisis, parents ask, where is the help for kids? The plan worked. Agriculture & Environment. "The world was looking at us because we had started the first study in the U.S. We had done it faster than anyone before had ever done it. This new type of a vaccine relied on a highly innovative and experimental technology, using messenger RNA (mRNA), described informally by Moderna as the "software of life.". Bancel would be meeting with President Donald Trump alongside the CEOs of the worlds biggest and most powerful pharmaceutical giants, including Janssen, GlaxoSmithKline, and Sanoficompanies with dozens, in some cases hundreds, of drugs on the market and market caps north of $100 billion. And he knew just whom to call. The likely suspects had been ruled out. Hamilton Bennett, Senior Director of Vaccine Access and Partnerships at Moderna, works on the company's COVID-19 vaccine from home. Bennett said. It had been 42 days since they designed the vaccine. Drug Development & Review . Of those that do, not all will make it to Phase 3, and no one knows whichif anywill ultimately prove effective and ostensibly save the world. In other words, mRNA vaccines shift the site of vaccine production from the factory to the body itself. The company had also been working for years in conjunction with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) on bringing a new class of vaccines to market. Some said it would divert resources from thriving areas of research and reprioritize other lucrative programs, while betting on a yet unproven vaccine technology. At the time, 35-year-old Hamilton Bennett, the senior director of vaccine access and partnerships at Moderna, a small, then-relatively unknown biotech company based in Cambridge,. Bancel, whod spent much of his career at companies that focused on infectious disease, raised his eyebrows. On March 16, Haller woke up early, put on a tank top, threw a sweatshirt over it, and downed a scrambled egg that her husband had prepared. The day CEPI announced it was funding Modernas Phase 1 trial, it also announced it would fund a University of Queensland lab and Pennsylvania-based Inovio Pharmaceuticals. Hamilton Bennett, Senior Director of Vaccine Access and Partnerships at Moderna, works on the company's COVID-19 vaccine from home. . But it was his work during the 2016 Zika outbreak that rocketed him to broader fame after he produced an investigational vaccine in a then-unheard-of 180 days. Will it be the first across the finish line? The batch was sterileit had passed the test. The site that the NIH had chosen for the trialthe only site it had selectedwas in Seattle. At that point, you've got to succeed.". Kaiser needed to find dozens of healthy people who would volunteer as guinea pigs for Modernas Phase 1 safety trial. Photo by David L. Ryan/The Boston Globe via Getty Images. This isnt going to be SARS. Others were not convinced that the pandemic would last more than a few months and felt it would be more prudent to wait before moving forward, until there was proof the virus was indeed a threat. Being crowned Miss Asia Pageant 1997 effectively launched her career in the fashion and entertainment industry. At Moderna, we believe messenger RNA, or mRNA, is the "software of life. Senior Director, Vaccine Access and Partnerships, CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice, Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information. It almost felt like the world around us was shifting, but for those of us on the program, our entire world was the program," Bennett said. Adam Glanzman/Bloomberg via Getty Images, FILE, Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. Hamilton Bennett's research while affiliated with Moderna and other places Overview What is this page? Bennett, who holds graduate degrees from University of Washington in Environmental Health and Microbiology, as well a certificate in Epidemiology from London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, has over 10 years of research experience and had spent the last four years as a researcher and leader on the company's vaccine portfolio. It had left her stranded a few times since the project began (exactly how often was another metric that the consummate planner was tracking on her whiteboard). In a decision that has been controversial in some corners of the scientific community, the FDA allowed Moderna, based on prior animal data, to try its vaccine on humans without complete animal trials. Under the lights on the loading dock, they secured the precious cargo in the truck and closed the door. Health equality in access to medicines and ensuring diversity in clinical trials. In the meantime, he continued to innovate in the field of photography by inventing a stop action shutter which allowed him to take photographs of instantaneous events. When it came to Big Pharma, there was less enthusiasm to jump in. "We'd set our timelines for phase 1, thinking, 'we could possibly start a phase 1 study in April,'" Bennett said. Moderna's FDA COVID-19 Vaccine Adcom is Thursday, and Expectations are SARS-CoV-2 is the third novel betacoronavirus in the last 20 years to cause substantial human disease; however, unlike . 36. Title. Despite the risks, Bennett said she felt very strongly that it was the company's moral and social obligation to develop the vaccine and, thus, advocated to push the company to take the gamble. From the start, Bancel felt the pressure of the spotlight. Unlike more traditional vaccines, which consist of weakened or inactivated forms of a virus, thus stimulating the body's immune response to create antibodies, a vaccine using mRNA sends a set of instructions into cells to teach them to make a protein, which will trigger an immune response inside our bodies to fight off the disease. At first, some committee members urged caution. He was technically on vacation at his home in the south of France, but even on his days off, Bancel didnt sleep much. News of the first U.S. death and the spread of the coronavirus in Seattle were also on Bancels mind, but for slightly different reasons. A major advantage of mRNA is that it is very easy to manufacture these RNA sequences once researchers know the sequence of the viral protein they want to target. Ultimately, the committee agreed to go for it. All American Speakers Bureau is a full-service talent booking agency providing information on booking Hamilton Bennett for speaking engagements, personal appearances and corporate events. The sun had not yet emerged from behind the horizon, but already color was leaking across the sky and rippling on the surface of the water, hinting at its imminent and fiery arrival. If so, Modernas race for the vaccine would play out under a million-watt global spotlight. However, when the severity of the pandemic became evident, "knowing what mRNA could do, having confidence in our platform, we thought, how do we show the global public health community what mRNA can do in a pandemic?" The team would be well into the next step before it even knew if results from the previous step indicated they were on the right path. Barouch has been pursuing using another innovative platform called adenoviral vector vaccines, which use a common cold virus as a vector to shuttle a piece of DNA into a cell. Bennett argued to go for the real vaccine. The group settled in Kilbourn City, today known as Wisconsin Dells, and Henry worked as a carpenter in the town. On the 14th and final day of the sterility test, the quality control team told Bancel they would not have any news until later that evening. biotechnology: biological products (no diagnostic substances), Sr. Project Manager, Clinical Development, Senior Director, Facilities & Engineering | Global Project Lead, Find verified emails and direct dial mobile numbers of contacts on LinkedIn, and sync them with your CRM instantly, Senior Director, Vaccine Access and Partnerships. [2] Boston audiences of 1890 gasped when this photograph was projected as a magic lantern slide. A Shared vision: Henry Hamilton Bennett and William H. Metcalf, A Compelling Vision: H. H. Bennett and the Wisconsin Dells, Items relating to the photographic publishing of H. H. Bennett, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=H._H._Bennett&oldid=1118079413, Pre-Confederation Canadian emigrants to the United States, People of Wisconsin in the American Civil War, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 25 October 2022, at 02:43. But if the risk paid off, the reward would be substantial: It could shave weeks, even months, off the timeline. Hamilton Bennett and her team worked tirelessly to engineer a vaccine. Moderna, Inc., will provide the data . Moderna already had a template to work from, having spent several years designing experimental mRNA vaccines for the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) and the Zika virus. Copyright 2023 All American Speakers Bureau. Just two months later, Moderna began its NIH-led phase 1 study. An Associated Press news crew was there to film the historic event, and it hit her how important this moment was, for everyone. Similar debates were taking place among many of the world's top pharmaceutical firms, according to Bennett, who described a late-January industry conference call about emerging infectious diseases where several top echelon executives had expressed concerns about the risks of joining the global efforts. At Moderna, we believe messenger RNA, or mRNA, is the "software of life. Watch Best of BIO. Interesting perspective from Hamilton Bennett, Moderna's senior director, vaccine access and partnerships. Copyright 2023 ABC News Internet Ventures. But when the first documented case in the United States was confirmed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Jan. 20, Bennett's team realized they needed "to move much faster. Vaccines & Biodefense. All rights reserved. Corbett's academic biography notes " the vaccine concept incorporatedin mRNA-1273 was designed by Dr. Corbett's NIH team from viral sequence and rapidly deployed to industry partner, Moderna, Inc." 19 According to Dr.Corbett, an earlier partnershipwith Moderna focused on the MERS coronavirus helped acceleratetheSARS- -2 response. Stand up for truth. Strengthening the Bioeconomy. Since then, new evidence has emerged showing that Moderna did not name NIH scientists as co-inventors in three patent applications covering the composition of the spike protein sequence encoded by mRNA-1273. Aside from shipping, the sterility test was Bancels biggest worry. Clearly, this is coming, and it's coming to the states.'". From his kitchen window, he had a full view of the sea. Bancel forwarded Grahams email to Hamilton Bennett, an energetic and idealistic 35-year-old whod spent the previous three years as program leader on Modernas vaccine portfolio. See more of The World Libertarians Want on Facebook. However, the decision that Moderna was confronted with in early January -- of whether to try to develop a vaccine against the rapidly spreading novel coronavirus -- was a risk, directing valuable resources toward a viral threat that we didn't yet know would blossom into a full-blown pandemic. It was too soon, they said. Next, a pharmacist readied the injection. Safe and effective vaccines are now available, including Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine (mRNA-1273) that showed 94% efficacy in prevention of symptomatic COVID-19 disease in a phase 3 clinical study. He did not disappoint. She needed to sign off on some final risksincluding the fact that the vaccine had not gone through a complete round of animal testingbefore proceeding. Sign up for the Good Day BIO Newsletter >. In January, with exponential growth in infection rates in the city of Wuhan, China, and increasing evidence of high community transmission, Moderna's leadership acknowledged that the outbreak was a serious threat and asked Bennett to begin working on a COVID-19 vaccine as soon as the new virus's genome sequence was obtained. Barbara Malmet on Twitter: "Hamilton Bennett, thank you for your work At that point, you've got to succeed.". You know you dont have to do this.. David L. Ryan/Boston Globe via Getty Images, FILE, Adam Glanzman/Bloomberg via Getty Images, FILE, New book busts myths, answers common questions about menopause. Bringing you daily news at the intersection of biotechnology, politics, patients & the planet. Hamilton Bennett, the senior director of vaccine access and partnerships at Moderna, did not anticipate that her team's years of work would soon be thrust into the global spotlight when Moderna became the first American company to jump into the race to a coronavirus vaccine. Facing down a pandemic the likes of which the world hadnt seen in a century, Bennett, senior director of vaccine access and partnerships at Moderna, was tasked with developing a COVID vaccine even before the viruss genome had been sequenced. And if we don't do it, maybe no one else will," Bennett said, while recalling her reasoning at the time. He didn't have to go far to find impressive scenery, for the Wisconsin River Dells, a gorge with numerous sandstone formations, was just outside Kilbourn City. Brooke Bollman, 1 Naveen Nunna, 1 Kapil Bahl, 1 Chiaowen Joyce Hsiao, 1 Hamilton Bennett, 1 Scott Butler, 2 Bryant Foreman, 3 Katherine E. Burgomaster, 3 Maya Aleshnick, 3 Wing-Pui Kong, 4 Brian E. Fisher, 4 Tracy J. Ruckwardt, 4 Kaitlyn M. Morabito, 4 Barney S. Graham, 4 Kimberly A. Dowd, 3 Theodore C . Bennett, who holds graduate degrees from University of Washington in Environmental Health and Microbiology, as well a certificate in Epidemiology from London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, has over 10 years of research experience and had spent the last four years as a researcher and leader on the company's vaccine portfolio. Throughout Boston and beyond, however, there had never been a more active moment in the world of vaccine research. Agriculture & Environment. At the Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute in Seattle, study recruiters leapt into action. Bennett, who holds graduate degrees from University of Washington in Environmental Health and Microbiology, as well a certificate in Epidemiology from London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, has over 10 years of research experience and had spent the last four years as a researcher and leader on the company's vaccine portfolio. Moderna already had a template to work from, having spent several years designing experimental mRNA vaccines for the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) and the Zika virus. Shortly afterward, in 1866, he married Francis Douty, and the couple eventually had three children.
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