28. COVID19 mRNA vaccines

Full Scope Human Longevity

Lecture Summary
mRNA, or messenger RNA, tells biological cells how to construct proteins from the code (genes) contained in our DNA. Using synthetic mRNA, multiple organizations have created vaccines that are very effective against COVID19 infection and very safe. The pace of progress has been extraordinary. Join me in learning about this new incredible technology as well as the results of two pandemic-breaking phase 3 clinical trials.

Key Points
- On January 12, 2020 the Chinese CDC released the genome sequence of the SARs CoV-2 virus.
- The spike protein on the outside of the Covid viral particle was already identified as a good potential vaccination target from the SARs CoV-1 epidemic (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome 1).
- The COVID19 pandemic declared March 11, 2020 by the WHO, 9 months later we are getting vaccinated.
- 57 vaccine candidate where either in or finished with clinical trials as of Dec, 2020
- Since the 1990s, mRNA vaccines have been on the drawing board
- The first successful mRNA vaccines have now been produced and are being used against SARs CoV2 with 95% efficacy. The mRNA is contained in lipid nanoparticles.
- Side effects have been minimal
- The phase 3 clinical trials from the BNT162b2 (Pfizer) and mRNA-1273 will be discussed.
- Normally vaccines take 10 to 15 years to develop. New vaccines in < 1 year, using brand new technology is an insane accomplishment!
- Honor this extraordinary scientific work by getting the vaccine, stopping the pandemic, and resuming normal life.

References
- Polack FP, Thomas SJ, Kitchin N, Absalon J, Gurtman A, Lockhart S, Perez JL, Pérez Marc G, Moreira ED, Zerbini C, Bailey R, Swanson KA, Roychoudhury S, Koury K, Li P, Kalina WV, Cooper D, Frenck RW Jr, Hammitt LL, Türeci Ö, Nell H, Schaefer A, Ünal S, Tresnan DB, Mather S, Dormitzer PR, Şahin U, Jansen KU, Gruber WC; C4591001 Clinical Trial Group. Safety and Efficacy of the BNT162b2 mRNA Covid-19 Vaccine. N Engl J Med. 2020 Dec 31;383(27):2603-2615.
- Baden LR, El Sahly HM, Essink B, Kotloff K, Frey S, Novak R, Diemert D, Spector SA, Rouphael N, Creech CB, McGettigan J, Kehtan S, Segall N, Solis J, Brosz A, Fierro C, Schwartz H, Neuzil K, Corey L, Gilbert P, Janes H, Follmann D, Marovich M, Mascola J, Polakowski L, Ledgerwood J, Graham BS, Bennett H, Pajon R, Knightly C, Leav B, Deng W, Zhou H, Han S, Ivarsson M, Miller J, Zaks T; COVE Study Group. Efficacy and Safety of the mRNA-1273 SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine. N Engl J Med. 2020 Dec 30.
- https://www.fda.gov/media/142749/download
- WHO BNT162b2 Info. WHO-2019-nCoV-vaccines-SAGE_evaluation-BNT162b2-2020.1-eng.pdf
- Huang, Y., Yang, C., Xu, Xf. et al. Structural and functional properties of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein: potential antivirus drug development for COVID-19. Acta Pharmacol Sin 41, 1141–1149 (2020)
- Wikipedia. Transcription, translation, Asian Palm Civet, SARs CoV-1, Bell’s Palsy,
- https://www.cdc.gov/sars/about/faq.html
- NIH. Clinical Research Trials and You. https://www.nih.gov/health-information/nih-clinical-research-trials-you/basics
- https://www.fda.gov/patients/drug-development-process/step-3-clinical-research