Tal Zaks

And forcing people to take vaccines is an ethical and moral consideration that the public has to buy into. And it's legitimate that they don't. And that's a hard and messy thing in a democracy. In a dictatorship, it's easy. And yes, on average, in a dictatorship, everybody gets a vaccine. No question, they'll be healthier. That being said, you now have a balance of two opposing moral forces.

And forcing people to take vaccines is an ethical and moral consideration that the public has to buy into. And it's legitimate that they don't. And that's a hard and messy thing in a democracy. In a dictatorship, it's easy. And yes, on average, in a dictatorship, everybody gets a vaccine. No question, they'll be healthier. That being said, you now have a balance of two opposing moral forces.

And that's a reckoning that has to happen in the public square. It is not the scientists or the physicians' purview to dictate that. And I think that's where we probably overstepped. And I think my biggest learning has been the importance of the open and honest dialogue with the public on what it is that we do.

And that's a reckoning that has to happen in the public square. It is not the scientists or the physicians' purview to dictate that. And I think that's where we probably overstepped. And I think my biggest learning has been the importance of the open and honest dialogue with the public on what it is that we do.

I will broaden it out to sort of nucleic acid medicines, if you will, which mRNA is an important part of. There's other types of RNA, most notably siRNA. And I think these medicines are enabling new types of pharmacology that we haven't had before. They... need a lot of investment in technology and delivery and getting them to the right tissue.

I will broaden it out to sort of nucleic acid medicines, if you will, which mRNA is an important part of. There's other types of RNA, most notably siRNA. And I think these medicines are enabling new types of pharmacology that we haven't had before. They... need a lot of investment in technology and delivery and getting them to the right tissue.

But they all benefit from the same thing we benefited from in the vaccines as a platform, which is once you get the first one right, the marginal cost for the next one is a fraction. Nucleic acids have that unique property of...

But they all benefit from the same thing we benefited from in the vaccines as a platform, which is once you get the first one right, the marginal cost for the next one is a fraction. Nucleic acids have that unique property of...

almost software-like, we used to call it in the early days of Moderna, a software-like platform, because basically it's the same physical construct of a drug, but the information in the nucleic acid, you change the information, you get out a different drug, you get out a different vaccine. But actually under a microscope, it looks exactly the same. In fact, it's the same components.

almost software-like, we used to call it in the early days of Moderna, a software-like platform, because basically it's the same physical construct of a drug, but the information in the nucleic acid, you change the information, you get out a different drug, you get out a different vaccine. But actually under a microscope, it looks exactly the same. In fact, it's the same components.

It's the information they encode that makes the drug. So these drugs as information, that's a new concept. And then there's a whole... world of opportunity in what's called gene therapy, which is the ability. I started by mentioning rare genetic diseases where somebody is born missing an enzyme or a protein.

It's the information they encode that makes the drug. So these drugs as information, that's a new concept. And then there's a whole... world of opportunity in what's called gene therapy, which is the ability. I started by mentioning rare genetic diseases where somebody is born missing an enzyme or a protein.

And if you can actually just put in the information that encodes for that protein, you fix the problem. And so now physiology should reassert itself as normal physiology of any other person. You can do that in mRNA with the traditional approach. Moderna is doing that for rare diseases, but then that mRNA is transient and you need to redose every time.

And if you can actually just put in the information that encodes for that protein, you fix the problem. And so now physiology should reassert itself as normal physiology of any other person. You can do that in mRNA with the traditional approach. Moderna is doing that for rare diseases, but then that mRNA is transient and you need to redose every time.

But if you could actually use that mRNA as an intermediary to get in and fix the genome once and for all, then you would potentially have a long-term beneficial effect without having to redose for the entire lifetime. And the company I've been spending the last year as the acting CEO, Exilio, is doing exactly that.

But if you could actually use that mRNA as an intermediary to get in and fix the genome once and for all, then you would potentially have a long-term beneficial effect without having to redose for the entire lifetime. And the company I've been spending the last year as the acting CEO, Exilio, is doing exactly that.

It's taking this mRNA and a lipid nanoparticle, which is the same as Moderna vaccine, if you will, And conceptually, it's not the same chemistry, but then the information that's encoded in that is actually allowing that mRNA to insert itself into the nucleus and make a change forever. Now, that is going to bring a whole slew of new challenges.

It's taking this mRNA and a lipid nanoparticle, which is the same as Moderna vaccine, if you will, And conceptually, it's not the same chemistry, but then the information that's encoded in that is actually allowing that mRNA to insert itself into the nucleus and make a change forever. Now, that is going to bring a whole slew of new challenges.

One of the criticisms and the public backlash against mRNA was the mistaken conception that it will somehow change the DNA. And the truth is, mRNA does not. It can't, based on first principle, and there's no empirical evidence that anybody's ever been able to show because it can't. So mRNA doesn't do that. But there are ways to encode different information with mRNA where it will do that.

One of the criticisms and the public backlash against mRNA was the mistaken conception that it will somehow change the DNA. And the truth is, mRNA does not. It can't, based on first principle, and there's no empirical evidence that anybody's ever been able to show because it can't. So mRNA doesn't do that. But there are ways to encode different information with mRNA where it will do that.