History, facts, and future

mRNA vaccine technology is a promising and unanswered area for communities living with the burden of the world’s most deadly infectious diseases.

Despite its appearance, mRNA technology is not new. However, since the mRNA vaccine entered the global scene to infect COVID-19, many have been exploring ways to use mRNA technology to address other global health problems. The possibilities have been opened.

“Big Three” Infectious Diseases

Tuberculosis, malaria and HIV are known as “big three” infections. These are the most deadly infectious diseases in the world. In total, more than 2.8 million people died in 2020, according to World Health Organization (WHO) statistics. According to early data, there were 1.8 million COVID-19 deaths in 2020, but WHO estimates that the number could be “at least” 3 million.

In addition to the deaths from the Big Three, about 290 million people lived with HIV, malaria and tuberculosis in 2020. These conditions are known as poverty illnesses. They affect developing countries disproportionately, are the result of poverty, and are the cause of poverty.

In 2020, a total of 1.5 million people died of tuberculosis. Globally, it is the second most common infectious disease murderer after COVID-19. In 2020, an estimated 10 million people will have tuberculosis, with 5.6 million men, 3.3 million women and 1.1 million children. Only eight countries make up two-thirds of the total number of tuberculosis cases, with India being the most burdened, followed by China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Pakistan, Nigeria, Bangladesh and South Africa.

Approximately 627,000 people will die from malaria in 2020, with an estimated 241 million reported worldwide. Africa is responsible for most of the world’s malaria burden – 95% of malaria cases and 96% of malaria deaths. About 80% of malaria infections in the area were children under the age of five.

Meanwhile, in 2020, 680,000 people died from HIV-related causes. There were 1.5 million new cases of HIV in 2020, with an estimated 37.7 million living with HIV worldwide. The majority of people living with the virus (25.4 million) are in Africa.

History of messenger ribonucleic acid

The mRNA technology has been developed since the 1960s and has been proven to react when SARS-CoV-2 spreads around the world. Its success in the fight against COVID-19 has brought new interest in developing techniques for other illnesses.

In a nutshell, mRNA is a messenger ribonucleic acid that elicits an immune response from cells before it degrades. They work by introducing sequences that encode disease-specific antigens, the substances that cause the body to make antibodies against it. When this antigen is produced in the body, the immune system can recognize it and be ready to fight real viruses, bacteria, or parasites.

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the investigation of mRNA vaccines against various diseases such as Ebola, Zika fever, rabies, cancer, and influenza had begun.

However, this field has developed rapidly in the last few years. In a 2018 review, U.S.-based scientists found that mRNA vaccines are promising for traditional vaccine approaches due to their high efficacy, rapid development capabilities, low-cost manufacturing and safe administration potential. Said it was an alternative.

“The field of mRNA vaccines is evolving very rapidly. Over the past few years, a large amount of preclinical data has been accumulated and multiple human clinical trials have begun,” scientists say. “Data suggest that mRNA vaccines have the potential to solve many challenges in vaccine development for both infectious diseases and cancer.”

Why is mRNA technology so exciting?

Since becoming mainstream during the COVID-19 pandemic, interest in mRNA technology has exploded. The full text of the 2020 mRNA technology review by researchers in Shanghai and Beijing has been viewed approximately 35,000 times and has more than 40 citations, making it a major impact factor in the world of scientific literature.

mRNA vaccines appear promising due to their speed of development and production, as well as their flexibility and adaptability to mutants. The mRNA vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 from the US pharmaceutical company Moderna began clinical trials 63 days after the viral genome was published. By comparison, the Gardasil vaccine for human papillomavirus (HPV), which uses recombinant DNA technology, took 15 years to be approved for use in 2006.

The development of the stability of mRNA vaccines has greatly increased interest in this technique. According to a 2019 study, mRNA vaccines were tested in the early 1990s, but there were concerns about production scale and its fragile stability.

Advances in the synthetic production of mRNA have made this technique more attractive. Other forms of safe and effective vaccines carry a weakened virus or part of the virus, increase the amount of pathogens needed to generate large-scale immunity, and then weaken the virus. This will take some time.

The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) has set the world on the task of producing vaccines within 100 days of identifying new bacteria, R & D groups. This includes the Oxford University team that created the 100-day preprint. Vaccine Blueprint-They say they are challenging.

The future of mRNA vaccine technology

During the first few months of 2022, activity surrounding the transfer and development of mRNA technology became active, WHO announced additional locations for the mRNA vaccine technology transfer hub, and German biotechnology company BioNTech announced a new production facility in Africa. I specified the location of.

In these announcements, world health leaders and scientists have repeatedly pointed out that mRNA can undertake non-communicable health burdens such as big three diseases and cancer.

In addition, clinical trials for HIV, malaria, and tuberculosis mRNA vaccine candidates have already started or will start this year.

However, scientists are cautiously softening optimism, as vaccine candidates do not always prove safe and effective when they reach clinical trials. And global health advocates say that funding for vaccine research and development and an ongoing focus on technology transfer and knowledge enhancement in the South must be maintained.

The recipe for the COVID-19 mRNA vaccine is firmly held by pharmaceutical companies that refuse to share patents with developing countries. To combat “vaccine storage” and global health inequality, the WHO and research institute consortium and drug patent pool united in 2021 to unleash the structure of mRNA vaccines and become the first mRNA research center in South Africa. And established a relocation hub. Brazil and Argentina use “spokes”.

In February, WHO announced that six countries in sub-Saharan Africa and North Africa would receive the technology to enable the production of the COVID-19 vaccine as part of the initiative.

WHO said the mRNA technology can also be used for insulin to treat diabetes, cancer treatments, and potentially vaccines for Big Three’s deadly infections. Ultimately, according to WHO, the mRNA technology transfer hub will promote access to vaccines for all, enhance health safety and promote future independence.

Kate Stegeman, Africa Regional Advocacy Coordinator for Doctors Without Borders (MSF) Access Campaign, said diversifying the ability to produce mRNA vaccines to low- and middle-income countries should be a global health priority. rice field. She states: “As more regions produce mRNA vaccines as an essential preparation for infectious diseases, they may strengthen their response to existing infectious diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis and HIV, as well as COVID-19 and future infectious diseases. there is.”