Why India’s so far behind in the mRNA game

For the scientific community, it wasn’t a surprise that Katalin Kariko and Drew Weissman won the 2023 Nobel Prize in Medicine for developing effective mRNA vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 virus.Twenty years of lab work by Hungary-born Kariko on developing the novel concept of mRNA (messenger ribonucleic acid) vaccines clicked just as the world woke to the daily horror, in early 2020, of thousands dying due to the novel coronavirus. While developing a vaccine in the traditional manner could have taken four to 10 years, the mRNA vaccine was developed, mass produced and injected in little over a year. Weissman worked “intensely” with Kariko for more than 20 years, “including middle-of-the-night emails as they both suffered disturbed sleep”.Even before Monday’s announcement, Kariko and Weissman’s work had been hailed as the beginning of a revolution, or progress that helped leapfrog five decades of vaccine development. Many believe Covid’s three-year toll of seven million would have been higher if not for the quickness with which the mRNA vaccine was developed.Is there really a global mRNA deluge?Research into mRNA vaccines gathered momentum almost a decade ago with global vaccine coalitions hoping to fight viruses such as HIV. The Covid success has, however, started a deluge of sorts. According to a report last month by a global business research and consulting group, Roots Analysis, there are over 190 candidates of mRNA vaccines at various stages of development and covering a range of diseases. According to western media reports, Moderna, one of the companies to develop the Covid mRNA vaccine, has over two dozen candidates. Many of the vaccine candidates are for influenza or flu, which emerged in a more virulent than ever before form in India this year, as well as for HIV. There are mRNA vaccine candidates being developed for dengue, malaria, Zika and Nipah as well.Indian public health expert Dr Chandrakant Lahariya is hopeful the mRNA technology can help fight many pestilences. “The Covid mRNA vaccine was a proof of concept. It has given hope especially for neglected diseases or conditions such as tuberculosis, which is one of the top 10 killers in India and hasn’t had an effective vaccine since BCG was developed in 1921.” ShowBlurbsHow is Kariko’s method transformative?Vaccination works by stimulating an immune response to a particular pathogen; it gives the body a head-start in the fight against a disease even if there is exposure later. Earliest vaccines used killed or weakened viruses (polio, yellow fever), but with the development of molecular biology, vaccines could be made from parts of the viruses (hepatitis B and human papillomavirus). Kariko’s method depends on the genetic information transfer that occurs within our cells with messenger RNA. It has been said mRNA vaccine turns the body into a vaccine factory by introducing an instruction to add a certain viral protein. This leads to creation of antibodies that help prevent an infection or reinfection.Where does the technology stand in India?India has an mRNA vaccine developed by Pune-based Gennova Biopharmaceuticals Ltd against Covid. The company recently came up with an Omicron-specific booster. The vaccine didn’t have an overwhelming response as it came after Indians had taken one or two shots against Covid.More importantly, in August, Gennova Biopharma received $3.6mn in funding from Norway-based Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) to develop mRNA vaccine technology against Disease X.In the last few decades, India has emerged as the world’s vaccine pharmacy. It has a repository of over 50 indigenous vaccines, including against typhoid, hepatitis, rota virus, rabies among others. It is in the elite group of 20-odd countries that manufacture vaccines. The Indian government has time and again emphasised that India had supplied vaccines to 100 countries during Covid. But all this underlines India’s role in the vaccine pharmacy as a producer or manufacturer.A senior scientist said India has traditionally been a vaccine producer as we haven’t ever invested much in research and development. India’s focus has always been on “technical transfers” and tie-ups that allow Indian manufacturers, both in the public and private sectors, to make cost-effective vaccines. After Covid, as Dr Lahariya said, India has hopefully learnt that it has to invest now in R&D if we have to reap the fruits two decades later.