What happened Shares of Moderna (NASDAQ: MRNA) are up 14% at 1:01 p.m. EST on Monday, having been up as much as 18.6% today, likely because COVID-19, the illness caused by the new coronavirus, continues to spread globally. There have been over 89,000 confirmed cases of the disease according to data tracked by Johns Hopkins University's Center for Systems Science and Engineering. While most (over 80,000) have been in mainland China, the number of cases outside that country continues to climb. A second death in the U.S. from the disease was reported Sunday night. So what Moderna has already created a vaccine, mRNA-1273, which the biotech has shipped to researchers at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. A clinical trial is scheduled to start this month, which will produce early initial results by August. President Donald Trump was scheduled to meet with executives from drug companies today to discuss the situation. It isn't clear what Trump or Vice President Mike Pence, who is heading the U.S. government's response to COVID-19, can do to speed up the process. Drug development takes time. Image source: Getty Images. Now what While mRNA-1273 offers an opportunity for Moderna to generate revenue quicker than it likely will with its pipeline of drugs, biotech investors should be cautious about penciling in too much future revenue into their valuation models. Other companies are also working on vaccines for COVID-19, and if multiple vaccines are equally effective, the opportunity for each company could be short-lived. 10 stocks we like better than ModernaWhen investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.* David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the ten best stocks for investors to buy right now... and Moderna wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys. See the 10 stocks *Stock Advisor returns as of December 1, 2019 Brian Orelli and The Motley Fool have no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.Source