Listen: Vertex vs. insurers, Moderna’s future, & biotech’s long winter

What makes a drug quintuple in cost? How do you follow inventing a Covid-19 vaccine? And what did we learn from biotech’s unicorn era?

We cover all that and more this week on “The Readout LOUD,” STAT’s biotech podcast. STAT’s Ed Silverman joins us to explain how an escalating fight between Vertex Pharmaceuticals and insurance companies has left patients and families caught in the middle. We also discuss the latest news in the life sciences, including the demise of a one-time unicorn, Moderna’s difficult second act, and an official biotech presidential run.

For more on what we cover, here’s the story on Vertex; here’s the news from Moderna; here’s more on Rubius Therapeutics; here’s Vivek Ramaswamy’s campaign announcement; here’s where you can find episodes of Color Code; and here’s where you can subscribe to the First Opinion Podcast.

Be sure to sign up on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Play, or wherever you get your podcasts.

And if you have any feedback for us — topics to cover, guests to invite, vocal tics to cease — you can email [email protected].