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mRNA vaccines in lipid nanoparticles

The COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna carry messenger RNA, instructions that get cells to make a copy of one virus protein so the immune system learns to recognize it. The fragile RNA travels inside lipid nanoparticles: tiny fat bubbles that protect it and carry it into cells.

University of British Columbia, 16 Sept 2021
Vaccine carrier · how far it has got5/5Everyday life

How far from your life: It is probably already in your life.

Company-reported

From lab to your life

Why it’s on step 5

  1. 1Lab discovery
  2. 2Working prototype
  3. 3Real-world testing
  4. 4Approved or on sale
  5. 5Everyday life

The rule

Widely used: in products or treatments that reach millions of people, or sold in ordinary shops.

  • Pfizer and BioNTech had supplied more than one billion doses of their COVID-19 vaccine, BioNTech said. Reuters, 9 Aug 2021

The short version

What you need to know

Is it really nano?

Truly nano

The lipid nanoparticles are what protect the mRNA and get it into cells. Without them, these vaccines would not work.

University of British Columbia, 16 Sept 2021
Where you’ll find it

In COVID-19 vaccines given around the world since December 2020. Pfizer and BioNTech alone had supplied more than a billion doses by July 2021.

Reuters, 9 Aug 2021
Who’s behind it

Pfizer and BioNTech (Comirnaty) and Moderna (Spikevax), on lipid nanoparticle work that began in Pieter Cullis's lab at the University of British Columbia

On the record

Every step, dated

Newest first. Company-reported means the only source so far is the company itself.

  1. Approval

    The FDA fully approved the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, now sold as Comirnaty: the first COVID-19 vaccine to get full approval. Its review covered about 20,000 people who got the vaccine and 20,000 who got a placebo.

    US FDA, 23 Aug 2021
  2. Widely usedCompany-reported

    Pfizer and BioNTech had supplied more than one billion doses of their COVID-19 vaccine, BioNTech said.

    Reuters, 9 Aug 2021
  3. Approval

    The FDA authorized the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for emergency use in people 16 and older, based on a randomized, blinded trial in thousands of people.

    US FDA, 23 Aug 2021

Who makes it

The companies

  • PFENYSEPfizer

    Markets Comirnaty, the mRNA COVID-19 vaccine it developed with BioNTech.

    We track:mRNA vaccines

  • BNTXNasdaqBioNTech

    Developed the Comirnaty mRNA vaccine with Pfizer; more than a billion doses were supplied by July 2021.

    We track:mRNA vaccines

  • MRNANasdaqModerna

    Develops mRNA medicines carried in lipid nanoparticles, including a personalized cancer vaccine with Merck.

    We track:mRNA vaccinesmRNA cancer vaccine

Sources

Where every line comes from

Each source with the passage, word for word, that backs what we wrote.

  1. University of British Columbia, 16 Sept 2021It is the tiny fat bubbles known as lipid nanoparticles, or LNPs, that protect the mRNA and shuttle it into cells.
  2. Reuters, 9 Aug 2021BioNTech and partner Pfizer have supplied more than one billion doses of their COVID-19 vaccine
  3. US FDA, 23 Aug 2021Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the first COVID-19 vaccine.

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