Key Sentence:
- In the summer of 2020, as the pandemic rages on and infects more than 200,000 people worldwide every day Covid’s Forgotten Hero.
- Pfizer CEO Albert Burla and BioNTech CEO Ugur Shahin boarded an executive plane en route to the hilly province of Klosterneuburg, Austria.
Their goal: a small production facility on the west bank of the Danube called Polymun Scientific Immunobiology Research. Burla and Shahin are on a mission to get the company to produce as many lipid nanoparticles. As possible for its new Covid’s Forgotten Hero, which will receive emergency clearance from the US Food and Drug Administration.
The Pfizer BioNTech vaccine was developed using messenger RNA technology, instructing the immune system to fight the coronavirus. However, mRNA must be encased in microscopic fat fragments known as lipids to be safely inserted into human cells.
The Austrian manufacturing facility is one of the few places where the necessary lipid nanoparticles are made. Burla insists that Shahin accompany him personally to turn in his case. “The whole mRNA platform is not about building mRNA molecules; it was straightforward,” said Burla. “
This is how you make sure that the mRNA molecule penetrates your cell and delivers instructions.”
The story of how Moderna, BioNTech, and Pfizer creating this vital delivery system is never told. It is a complex story spanning 15 years of litigation and accusations of treason and fraud. When humanity needed a way to deliver mRNA to human cells to stop a pandemic. It was clear there was only one reliable method.
A month-long study by Forbes revealed that the scientist responsible for this critical delivery method was 57-year-old Canadian biochemist Ian McLachlan. As CEO of two small companies, Protiva Biotherapeutics and Tekmira Pharmaceuticals, MacLachlan led the team that developed this critical technology.
Today, however, few people – and none of the major drug companies publicly acknowledge his pioneering work, and McLachlan did not profit from the technology he pioneered.
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Why is this was not recognized until now is a shame. I might not know all the details but sometimes we don't acknowledge our Canadians the way we should.
I am proud that we at least have made amends now to him.