Fat – the unsung hero

OILS & FATS INTERNATIONAL VOL 37 NO 3 MARCH/ APRIL 2021

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With COVID vaccinati on programmes underway around the world in a push to put the pandemic behind us, it’s worth paying tribute to a niche secti on of the oils and fats sector making these vaccines possible.

Lipids (fat molecules) are being used in the Pfi zer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, with several companies recently announcing expanded producti on to meet demand.

The ground-breaking element of the Pfi zer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines is that they use messenger RNA (mRNA) – the geneti c instructi ons that our cells read to make proteins (in this case, the instructi ons on how to make the coronavirus’ disti ncti ve spike protein found on its surface). Aft er injecti on, the vaccine enters our cells, which read the mRNA sequence and builds the spike proteins, which they display on their surface. This primes our immune system to build the anti bodies and T-cells that will fi ght off a real coronavirus infecti on if it comes.

Because mRNA quickly degrades in the body, it is wrapped in oily bubbles made of lipid nanoparti cles (LNPs), specifi cally four for the vaccines – an ionisable cati onic lipid that encapsulates the negati vely charged mRNA; a PEGylated lipid that helps control parti cle life and size; distearoylphosphati dylcholine (DSPC), a phospholipid that helps form the structure of the LNP; and cholesterol, which also contributes to structure.

Very few companies worldwide supply these custom lipids in the quanti ti es and to the standards needed for vaccine producti on.

In February, one of them – Germany’s Merck KGaA – announced that it would “signifi cantly accelerate the supply of urgently needed lipids” for the Pfi zer-BioNTech vaccine. BioNTech itself is also starti ng to make the lipids at a facility in Germany it recently acquired from Novarti s, according to a Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN) report. Also in February, Evonik Industries said it was investi ng to boost lipids producti on at two sites in Germany as part of a strategic agreement with BioNTech. The fi rm is a newcomer to large-scale speciality lipid manufacturing and expects to be making commercial quanti ti es as early as the second half of this year, C&EN says.

Meanwhile, Briti sh speciality chemical company Croda is increasing producti on in Alabama at its subsidiary, Avanti Polar Lipids, to supply Pfi zer; while German pharmaceuti cal services fi rm CordenPharma has been investi ng in Switzerland, France and Colorado, USA, to supply lipids for Moderna’s vaccine, according to C&EN.

The use of lipid nanoparti cles in drug delivery systems is not new. Rather, it is their role in new RNA-based medicines uti lising ground-breaking gene editi ng technology. Scienti sts at Tuft s University, for example, reported in February that they had successfully used lipid nanoparti cles to carry a mRNA gene editi ng packaging to livers in mice, reducing levels of LDL or ‘bad’ cholesterol.

Evonik’s health care business R&D vice president Stefan Randl sees his fi rm’s investment extending beyond vaccines to serve developers of next-generati on mRNA-based medicines such as cancer immunotherapies, gene-editi ng therapeuti cs, and proteinreplacement therapy. “We really believe this mRNA trend is here to last,” he says.

Lipid nanoparti cles are just another illustrati on of the wide range of applicati ons that oils and fats off er, from the most basic commodity to cutti ng-edge science.