âWhen the spotlight found Moderna, they were readyâ: How the Cambridge biotech company became a world renowned success story By Scott Kirsner Globe Correspondent,Updated December 18, 2020, 7:11 p.m. Email to a Friend A year ago, Moderna was not on anyoneâs âMost Likely to Succeedâ list. As the Cambridge biotech approached its 10th year, the company had yet to get a single product approved for sale by government regulators. Investors werenât particularly hot on its potential, either â after going public in December 2018, Modernaâs stock price hadnât done much over the ensuing 12 months. There was skepticism about the companyâs approach â using custom-crafted RNA to instruct the bodyâs cells to battle a disease or virus â partly because Moderna hadnât disclosed much data about it. And there were questions about its focus on a dim corner of the biotechology industry that, in the words of biotech entrepreneur and former Biogen research executive Michael Gilman, was âneither sexy nor lucrativeâ â vaccine development.