Trump vaccine czar makes $3.4M windfall as firm reports progress on coronavirus shot and stock soars

Moncef Slaoui, a former GlaxoSmithKline executive, listens as President Donald Trump speaks about the coronavirus in the Rose Garden of the White House.

A controversial biotech firm is claiming early positive progress on its trial of a coranavirus vaccine — giving a massive financial boost to President Trump’s newly minted vaccine czar.

The report sent Moderna stock soaring by up to 34% in pre-market trading Monday. It was trading up a more modest 22% by midmorning.

The stock spike temporarily added at least $3.4 million to the bottom line of Moncef Slaoui, the just-named vaccine czar who was on the board of Moderna until his appointment.

Slaoui, a veteran Big Pharma exec, holds 156,000 stock options that increased in value by more than $3 million on the Monday morning news.

Ethics experts called the lucrative morning for Slaoui a prime example of why he should not be making decisions about winners and losers in the coronavirus vaccine race.

“You could hurt or kill millions of people,” said Peter Maybarduk of Public Citizen, a watchdog groulp. “A better vaccine might not be created or it might not be distributed to the widest number of people.”

Maybarduk added: “Many decisions will come across his desk. Deciding one way would make him money and a different decision might save millions of lives.”

Slaoui, a former GlaxoSmithKline executive, spoke glowingly last week about Trump’s goal of producing a coronavirus vaccine by the end of the year.

Slaoui slyly suggested that he had heard great news about one company’s vaccine effort, a possible reference to Moderna. He did not mention his financial interest in the company.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren slammed the lucrative stock options as a blatant conflict of interest for Slaoui, who will be involved in selecting which vaccine trials get government backing.