mRNA creators studying vaccines' myocarditis risk
he co-creators of the mRNA technology used in both Pfizer (PFE)/BioNTech's (BNTX) and Moderna's (MRNA) COVID-19 vaccines are looking into the causes of a low risk of heart inflammation, especially in younger males.
Dr. Katalin Karikó and Dr. Drew Weissman spoke with Yahoo Finance Tuesday, a day they were being awarded for their research from Northwell Health's Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research.
Karikó, a biochemist at University of Pennsylvania and senior vice president at BioNTech, began working on the RNA technology 35 years ago, and struggled to garner academic support. Weissman, a physician and scientist at University of Pennsylvania, joined the research 10 years after she began, and the two worked tirelessly to get mRNA to the point it was — primed and ready for use — at the start of the pandemic.
"Back then, we never imagined that RNA would be used to stop a pandemic, but we knew it had incredible potential," Weissman said, adding that the experience has been a whirlwind.
