The key ingredient in the coronavirus vaccines developed by Moderna and BioNTech doesn’t last very long. Once in the body, this messenger RNA, or mRNA, degrades within days. Still, that’s enough time for the vaccines to train the body to recognize and attack the virus in the event of infection.
Drugmakers have long understood the potential of RNA. These strands of genetic information play an essential role in creating proteins and regulating genes, giving drugs that harness their power the potential to treat diseases once thought to be unreachable.
