Gene therapy and vaccine makers fall after FDA names Vinay Prasad as top vaccine official

Shares of vaccine maker Moderna MRNA.O and gene therapy developers fall, after the U.S. FDA named Vinay Prasad as the director of its Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER)

Prasad, a fierce critic of COVID-19 vaccine and mask mandates, will succeed Peter Marks to oversee the regulation of vaccines and gene therapies

*Prasad "counters previous ideologies of Peter Marks" and views the decision as a "net negative for the BioPharma sector" - Evan Seigerman, BMO Capital Markets analyst

Shares of Moderna down 11.4%, Novavax NVAX.O down 3.1%, while Pfizer PFE.N, previously down after an announcement on medicine costs, extends losses to 3.7%

Shares of gene therapy developers: Sarepta Therapeutics SRPT.O down 22.9%, Taysha Gene Therapies TSHA.O down 24.6% and Capricor Therapeutics CAPR.O down 25%

U.S.-listed shares of CRISPR Therapeutics CRSP.BN down 11.3%, Solid Biosciences SLDB.O down 19.2% and Neurogene NGNE.O down 14.4%

MRNA down 41.3% and SRPT down 61.1%, YTD