Drew Weissman

Weissman received his B.A. and M.A. from Brandeis University in 1981, where he majored in biochemistry/enzymology and worked in the lab of Gerald Fasman.[2] He performed his graduate work at Boston University in immunology/microbiology where he received his MD and Ph.D in 1987.[3] Afterwards, Weissman did a residency at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, followed by a fellowship at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) under the supervision of Anthony Fauci – the current director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.[4]

In 1997, Weissman moved to the University of Pennsylvania to start his lab studying RNA and innate immune system biology. It was at the University of Pennsylvania, where he discovered, patented, and published, with Katalin Karikó, the modifications to RNA required to make it viable as a therapy. In 2006, he and Karikó co-founded RNARx to attempt to develop novel RNA therapies. Weissman is a member of the American Federation for Clinical Research, The Association of American Physicians, and The American Association of Immunologists.[5]

Weissman, an immunologist studying vaccines, met colleague and collaborator Katalin Karikó at a photocopier at Penn, where they sympathized about the lack of funding for RNA research. At the time, Karikó had been trying RNA therapy on cerebral diseases and strokes.[6] Weissman began collaborating with Karikó, who then switched her focus to RNA based vaccines. The main obstacle they faced was that the RNA itself was causing unwanted immune and inflammatory reactions. In 2005, they published a landmark study[7] that used synthetic nucleosides to modify the RNA to make it invisible to the body. This breakthrough laid the groundwork for the use of RNA therapeutics, and was eventually licensed by BioNTech/Pfizer and Moderna for development of their now FDA approved COVID-19 vaccines.[8] Weissman has also been collaborating with scientists in Thailand to develop and provide COVID-19 vaccines for the country and neighboring low income countries that may not have immediate access to the vaccine.[1] It has been suggested that Weissman and Karikó be awarded the Nobel Prize for their discoveries.[9] Both have been awarded the 2020 Rosenstiel Award.[10]

Weissman is the inventor on many patents, including US8278036B2[11] & US8748089B2[12] which detail the modifications required to make RNA suitable for vaccines and other therapies. These patents were licensed to Gary Dahl who founded and is CEO of CELLSCRIPT, who subsequently licensed the technology to Moderna and BioNTech to ultimately use in their COVID-19 vaccines.[13]