Re:IRIS²: The EU’s Response to Musk’s Starlink
by hef19898 on Sunday February 19, 2023 @06:30AM
(#34856658)
Absolutely not. The most common Covid vaccines originated in Europe (AZ, BionTech) with the exception of Moderna (US).
To take an example were all the ground work was done in Europe and later propelled US companies to riches: MP3.
But hey, if you want to play Super Trump with countries, and the US to win, fine for me. The US win by virtue of being the most exceptional country on earth.
Re:IRIS²: The EU’s Response to Musk’s Starlink
by the_why_of_y on Sunday February 19, 2023 @09:12AM
(#34857700)
Katalin Karikó moved to the US in 1985, from a Warsaw Pact country.
She did her research at UPenn and accepted a demotion and pay cut in 1995 because grant agencies decided this weird mRNA stuff wasn't worth funding.
In 2006 she founded startup company RNARx, funded with 100k USD of government grants, but didn't come to an agreement to license patents of her own work which UPenn held.
So in 2013 she joined German company Biontech, funded with 150m EUR of venture capital, which was finally able to productize the research.
Most of the groundlaying work on mRNA has been done by Katalin Karikó, a Hungarian scientist who moved to the US to continue her research in better conditions.
The history of mRNA research is pretty tangled, but its majority took place at the American side of the pond. Unless you want to cherry-pick one particular moment and disregard all others, then no, mRNA technology is not a European, or even majority-European invention.