Vaccine and Therapeutic RNA Development for Equity Access

Prof. Ruxrungtham discusses Chula Medical School’s mission to advance equitable access to RNA vaccines, highlighting their transition from DNA and subunit vaccines to mRNA platforms prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. They described how their team built end-to-end capabilities—from antigen design and mRNA synthesis to preclinical and clinical testing—despite limited resources compared to large biotech companies. Several candidate vaccines, including multivalent formulations against infectious diseases and a therapeutic HPV RNA vaccine, have shown promising preclinical and early clinical results. The initiative emphasizes global collaboration and infrastructure development to ensure low- and middle-income countries can access life-saving vaccines affordably.