COVID-19 vaccines create 9 new billionaires: Modern’a Afeyan among them

YEREVAN, MAY 22, ARMENPRESS. At least 9 people have become new billionaires since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic thanks to the excessive profits made by pharmaceutical companies producing its vaccines, The People’s Vaccine Alliance said.

The 9 new vaccine billionaires are:

1. Noubar Afeyan,Moderna’s Chairman
2. Stéphane Bancel,Moderna’s CEO
3. Timothy Springer,an immunologist and founding investor of Moderna
4. Robert Langer,a scientist and founding investor in Moderna
5. Ugur Sahin, CEO and co-founder of BioNTech
6. Juan Lopez-Belmonte, Chairman of ROVI, a company with a deal to manufacture and package the Moderna vaccine
7. Zhu Tao, co-founder and chief scientific officer at CanSino Biologics
8. Qiu Dongxu, co-founder and senior vice president at CanSino Biologics
9. Mao Huihua, also co-founder and senior vice president at CanSino Biologics

It is reported that the nine new billionaires have a combined net wealth of $19.3 billion.

Editing by Aneta Harutyunyan