Improvements in generating, purifying, and delivering RNA material, as well as addressing challenges with degradation by enzymes, have made the RNA class more attractive to drug developers.

Plus deals involving Takeda/Puma, SillaJen/Basilea, Celltrion/Abpro, METiS/Voronoi, Yuhan/AtoGen, Biocytogen/FineImmune and Avance/C3.

Additional Chinese coronavirus vaccine makers are now building up capacity, with Beijing-based AIM Vaccine preparing for a 400 million dose per year production capability for mRNA vaccines, while Chengdu-based Clover is to supply up to 414 million doses of its vaccines to GAVI.

Paths to commercialization are uncertain in nutrigenomics, an emerging science which seeks to identify gene-food interactions that differ among subpopulations and between individuals and to personalize diets to prevent disease.