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Comment by jpeg_hero | Hacker News Reader

Sounds like the dna printing to rna translation could be done, but not the “secret sauce” of the lipid bubble delivery?

Yeah even Pfizer had to “outsource” the lipid nanoparticle delivery system to a speciality firm. Synthesizing the RNA is within the realm of possibility for a sufficiently advanced lab, combining that with a delivery system is another level of specialization.

So, minimum two dudes and couple million bucks to recover from YouTube viewerships?

Yes and No - you can read up papers and probably get the nanoparticles with a budget of couple ten thousand if you really need to (you probably need to get the mRNA synthesized though). Issue is to get it clinical grade. Without clinical grade it's very high probability you'll get very sick or even kill yourself due to contaminants. Anything you inject instead of ingest has to have levels of purity that are very annoying to follow to say the leasr. Small batch clinicall grade formulations like these can cost hundreds of thousands PER dose, last I heard. But I might be outdated in that info.

Getting pre-synthesized S mRNA is like 99% of the work, lol. If you're looking for a DIY challenge start here:

https://www.addgene.org/145032/

(seriously though, don't try this at home)

Words can't express how much more difficult it is to work with mRNA than DNA.

It is easy to purify small molecules with a filter. The filter could pose a problem to mRNA or DNA. But if everything in the injection is effectively dead the worst that will typically happen is a bad rash, though in some people the innate immune reaction could kill them.

I suppose you haven't heard of endotoxins yet

Stop acting like God's gift to HN. I have. That is what causes the rash I mentioned. A test for endotoxin presence is sticking a pig and looking for a rash.

Pigs are hardy, but humans are too.

So pointing out you shouldn't go around injecting endotoxin laden crap into your body is now acting almighty is it? You sound like one of those biohackers who just injected live virus into his hands, good luck with your superpowers (or death) but keep it to your garage. People learned not to F with endotoxins a while back, apparently it's heresy to you to point that out.

No, acting like you're the only one who knows what endotoxins is is acting almighty.

Besides that, the problem is overstating how much of an issue this actually is. For a medical product you need to cater to the long tail of humanity that might have a very adverse reaction to endotoxins. But most people, very nearly all of them, do not have such a reaction. People prepare their own IV drugs all the time. What kills them isn't a reaction to endotoxins (if there is any to react to in the first place, as it is quite easy to make chemically pure drugs) but side effects of the drug or infections from reusing injection equipment.

Mammals have been getting poked with sticks for millions of years.

The lipid nanoparticle bilayer is also created by Biontech.

Basically, Pfizer is responsible for logistics/distribution and Biontech does the specialized research and development. It’s a good partnership.

Also why you’re seeing manufacturing issues from the Moderna side by the way, as they tried to do everything by themselves, with no experience in logistics/distribution.

The Pfizer/BioNTech lipid nanoparticle was made by Acuitas and Polymun.

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