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. 2021 Mar 30;333:511–520. doi: 10.1016/j.jconrel.2021.03.043

Table 1.

Composition of the three most advanced COVID-19 mRNA vaccines.

BNT162b2 – BioNTech/Pfizer
mRNA Lipid nanoparticle Administration Status References
Full-length Spike with Proline substitutions (K986P, V987P) Ionizable cationic lipid
  • ●

    ALC-0315 (Acuitas)

    Helper lipids

  • ●

    DSPC

  • ●

    Cholesterol

  • ●

    PEG-DMA

Lipid molar ratiosa
(50:10:38.5:1.5 mol%)
RNA to lipid ratioa
~0.05 (wt/wt) 		Intramuscular 30 μg mRNA Two doses with 21-day interval Emergency use in the U.K, U.S., Europe and other countries & approved in Switzerland, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia Preclinical: [48]
Phase 1/2: [49,50]
Phase 3: [51]
  • ●

    N1-methylpseudouridine

  • ●

    Codon optimization

  • ●

    GC-enriched sequence

  • ●

    dsRNA removal

  • ●

    Modified 5′ CAP1 structure

    (m7G+ −5′-ppp-5′-Am)

  • ●

    5′ UTR: human α-globin RNA with optimized Kozak sequence

  • ●

    3′ UTR: AES & mtRNR1 3′ UTR Motives [31]

  • ●

    110 Poly(A) tail with nucleotide-linker (GCAUAUGACU)




mRNA-1273 – Moderna
mRNA Lipid nanoparticle Administration Status References
Full-length Spike with Proline substitutions (K986P, V987P) Ionizable cationic lipid
  • ●

    SM-102

    Helper lipids

  • ●

    DSPC

  • ●

    Cholesterol

  • ●

    PEG-DMG

Lipid molar ratiosa
(50:10:38.5:1.5 mol%)
RNA to lipid ratioa
~0.05 (wt/wt) 		Intramuscular 100 μg mRNA Two doses with 28-day interval Emergency use in the U.K, U.S., Europe and other countries & approved in Switzerland Preclinical: [27,52]
Phase 1/2: [53]
Phase 3: [54]
  • ●

    N1-methylpseudouridine

  • ●

    dsRNA removal

  • ●

    Undisclosed structural elements




CVnCoV – CureVac
mRNA Lipid nanoparticle Administration Status References
Full-length Spike with Proline substitutions (K986P, V987P) Ionizable cationic lipid
  • ●

    Acuitas lipid (undisclosed)

    Helper lipids

  • ●

    DSPC

  • ●

    Cholesterol

  • ●

    PEG-lipid (undisclosed)

Lipid molar ratiosa
(50:10:38.5:1.5 mol%)
RNA to lipid ratioa
~0.05 (wt/wt) 		Intramuscular 12 μg mRNA Two doses with 28-day interval Phase 2b/3 initiated mid-December Preclinical: [55,56]
Phase 1: [57]
  • ●

    Unmodified nucleotides

  • ●

    Sequence-engineered

  • ●

    Codon optimization

  • ●

    GC-enriched sequence

  • ●

    dsRNA removal

  • ●

    Modified 5′ CAP1 structure

    (m7G+ −5′-ppp-5′-Am)

  • ●

    5′ UTR: Artifacts from restriction and transcription site, plus Kozak sequence

  • ●

    3′ UTR comprising human alpha-globin 3′ UTR sequence element

  • ●

    64 Poly (A) tail

  • ●

    Poly (C)-rich sequence, followed by histone stem loop sequence
a

Based on prior research of the developers, and not yet confirmed for the COVID-19 mRNA vaccines.