Trump's ex-big pharma exec leading the COVID-19 vaccine program has $10 million in stock options in a company developing COVID-19 vaccines

The former pharma executive tapped by President Donald Trump this week to lead the federal government's hunt for a COVID-19 vaccine has more than $10 million in stock options in one of the companies receiving federal funding to develop a COVID-19 vaccine.

Dr Moncef Slaoui, a Belgian-American, was this week named Chief Scientist for Trump's "Operation Warp Speed," which aims to develop a working vaccine as fast as possible.

Slaoui addressed the media in a press conference on Friday in the White House Rose Garden, where Trump described him as one of the world's pre-eminent experts on vaccines. He worked for years at GlaxoSmithKline, rising to the position of Head of Research and Development before leaving in 2017.

Described across four separate filings, Slaoui has 155,438 options in Moderna. The stake is worth $10,366,000 at Moderna's current share price, $66.69 at the time of publication.

Moderna shares have almost tripled in value during 2020. The $66.69 figure represents an increase of 184% from the $23.46 it was trading for on January 1.

Part of this sharp increase was fueled by an injection of more than $400 million from the federal government to assist trials of a coronavirus vaccine.

Moderna, on April 17, announced $483 million of funding from a branch of the Department of Health and Human Services for development of a COVID-19 vaccine.

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