Almost every antiviral vaccine ever sold works in a similar way: A dead or weakened virus, or a piece of one, is introduced into a healthy person. The weakened virus stimulates the immune system to generate antibodies, protecting the person when the real pathogen threatens to infect them.
Over the decades, this tried-and-true approach has vanquished polio, eradicated smallpox, and reined in chickenpox, measles, and mumps. But vaccine production has never been simple or fast. Many flu vaccines are still grown in chicken eggs. Newer approaches draw on genetic engineering to eliminate the need for whole viruses, but their viral proteins are still grown inside live cells.
The coronavirus vaccines from Moderna Inc., in Cambridge, Mass., and its German rival BioNTech SE propose to immunize people in a radically different way: by harnessing human cells to become miniature vaccine factories in their own right. Instead of virus proteins, the vaccines contain genetic instructions that prompt the body to produce them. Those instructions are carried via messenger RNA, or mRNA.
Moderna’s mRNA-1273 consists of a strand of mRNA that tells the body to produce the spike protein the coronavirus uses to latch onto human cells. The strand is like one side of a zipper; the “teeth” are a sequence of chemical letters that cells read to produce the 1,273 amino acids that make up the spike protein. If the vaccine works as intended, the body will start producing the proteins soon after injection, prompting the immune system to react and build up protective antibodies against them.
The great advantages of mRNA vaccines are speed and flexibility. No finicky live cells or hard-to-handle viruses are needed, and the basic chemistry is straightforward. Moderna’s vaccine reached Phase I human trials on March 16, only 63 days after the company began developing it. And at 6:43 a.m. on July 27, the first volunteer in Moderna’s 30,000-person, final-stage efficacy trial in the U.S. received an injection. Less than 12 hours later, BioNTech and its partner, Pfizer Inc., said they, too, were beginning a late-stage trial, a study that will be conducted in the U.S., Brazil, and several other countries. They took advantage of mRNA’s rapid-response capability to create four slightly different vaccines, which they compared in initial trials before selecting the best one for large-scale testing.
In Phase I trials, both the Moderna and BioNTech-Pfizer vaccines stimulated people’s immune systems to produce antibodies that neutralized the virus in lab experiments, a positive initial sign. “This is a relatively new platform, but it is looking quite good,” Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said after the results of Moderna’s Phase I trial, sponsored by NIAID, were published. “Neutralizing antibodies are the gold standard of protection.” Moderna, which has worked with NIAID for years, is receiving $955 million from the U.S. government to support its coronavirus trials.
How well mRNA vaccines will actually prevent Covid-19 remains unknown. No vaccine based on messenger RNA has ever been approved for any disease, or even entered final stage trials until now, so there’s little published human data to compare how mRNA stacks up against older technologies. And the vaccines have hardly been free of side effects: In Moderna’s Phase I trial, all 15 of the patients who received the median of three-dose sizes reported at least one side effect, though none were severe. Three of the 15 patients at the highest dose had temporary severe reactions. That dosage won’t be tested further.
Still, the accumulating data has some mRNA skeptics warming to the technology. “I don’t see the reason for focusing on mRNA vaccines. I don’t get that,” Peter Jay Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, said in an interview in early June. “The old-fashioned vaccines may do a better job.” In late July he said his opinion had shifted based on encouraging monkey and human trial results. Moderna’s vaccine “is showing promise,” he said. “There is enough of a glimmer to warrant continuing its clinical development and progressing to larger clinical trials.”
The possibility of a Covid-19 shot has led investors to more than triple the value of Moderna’s shares this year, giving the company a market capitalization of about $28 billion, an astonishing number for a company with no products. BioNTech shares have more than doubled. A third company with an mRNA-based Covid-19 shot, CureVac AG, has said it’s considering an initial public offering. Both Stéphane Bancel, Moderna’s chief executive officer, and Ugur Sahin, his less flashy counterpart at BioNTech, have become multibillionaires.
The excitement around mRNA goes beyond the pandemic. Proponents hope it can become a wide-ranging platform that will lead to vaccines for other difficult-to-treat infections, as well as customized cancer shots and even heart disease treatments. “It’s a big moment for mRNA therapeutics in general, because now it’s a household word and everybody knows about it,” says Derrick Rossi, a stem cell biologist who was a co-founder of Moderna in 2010 but is no longer affiliated with the company. “For Moderna, it’s the first time on the global stage.”
Interest in using genetic material to turn the body’s cells into vaccine factories dates to a series of experiments in the early 1990s. In 1993 researchers at Merck & Co. injected lab mice with loops of DNA that contained instructions for influenza proteins. To the surprise of the scientists, the mice generated an immune response that protected against the flu. The concept, so elegant it seemed almost too simple to be true, produced a surge of excitement among vaccine experts.
Continue reading your story on the app
Continue reading your story in the magazine
Are we having Fun Yet?
The makers of Axie Infinity pitched their crypto game as an engine for economic empowerment. It didn’t work out that way
GRILL GOALS
Let ’em sizzle down below And lower the grate for a last-minute char | Chefs and other masters of the flame share tips on how to elevate your outdoor cooking-including fresh techniques, surprising equipment, and even acts of bravery
Elon Musk's Sober Outlook
The billionaire Tesla chief cast a shadow over prospects for the US economy and the Twitter deal
Security Is SYNERGY
Kneeling beneath a framed print of Thomas Kinkade’s painting A Peaceful Retreat, Roli Chiu, alarm system installer, began his work one day in March by unpacking boxes of devices inside a new customer’s living room.
It's a MASSIVE Crime, Probably the LARGEST Art Theft in History
The looters arrived late in the afternoon at Koh Ker, a ruined 10th century city in northern Cambodia. They made their way through scrubby jungle to Prasat Krachap, a compact stone temple dedicated to the Hindu god Shiva and his son Skanda. They walked carefully. The countryside was strewn with land mines, and on another expedition some of the looters had watched a wandering cow be blown up.
Taken
To the east of the Gay Fish Co. dock on South Carolina’s St. Helena Island, a new bridge soars above the water, high enough for the shrimp boats to clear as they head to sea. It hits ground near the gatehouse for the private Harbor Island, where some of the colorful triple-decker beach homes have backyard tennis courts and putting greens.
The TORTURED Truth
Bobomurod Abdullayev was a decent enough sports reporter, but he was a really good politics blogger. Household-name good. Getting-things-done good. So good that he lived in fear of government agents showing up to take him away.
Life Insurance For THE DEAD
A wave of fraudulent claims swept through the rural villages of India's northeast, until police crackdowns and Covid seemed to snuff them out-for a while, anyway | FAKED DEATH
Don't FORGET an Exit Plan
CRYPTO HACKS | Did a novelty rapper and her startup-guy boyfriend commit history's biggest heist?
Where Ultrafast Delivery Still Zooms
India’s so-called quick commerce is soaring, but high cash burn may clip the startups’ wings
China's Bet On Homegrown mRNA Vaccines Holds Back Nation
China is trying to navigate its biggest coronavirus outbreak without a tool it could have adopted many months ago, the kind of vaccines that have proven to offer the best protection against the worst outcomes from COVID-19.
MOST EFFECTIVE COVID VACCINES
CDC says mRNA works – China’s jabs are JUNK!
Vacuna COVID-19 en niños: soluciona tus dudas
Los pequeños de 5 a 11 años ya pueden vacunarse frente al coronavirus. De la mano de dos expertos en Pediatría, resolvemos algunas cuestiones que preocupan a los padres.
DOG LOVERS HOWL FOR FAUCI'S HEAD!
Doc’s agency uses taxes to pay for cruel experiments
Hall Of Famers
Developing the Tech that Made covid Vaccines Possible
Dig Into Analysts' Estimates for Disruptive Companies
THE PANDEMIC ERA generated a whole wave of disruptive companies as it accelerated the introduction of new products and services in areas including artificial intelligence, digitization, electronic payments, online meeting platforms, and virtual currencies.
The World's 50 Most Innovative Companies – Biotech
Mariana Matus Cofounder and CEO of Biobot Analytics
Beyond Covid
More uses for new mRNA technology
The Last Pandemic
Technological breakthroughs and policy progress mean humanity may never again have to endure a disaster like Covid-19.
Facebook Steps Up Vaccine Misinfo Efforts. Will It Work?
As inoculation efforts for the coronavirus ramp up around the world, Facebook says it’s going all in to block the spread of bogus vaccine claims.