Elon Musk is full of surprises.
Some eyebrows were raised earlier this year when the Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) The CEO proclaimed that his company would manufacture ventilators for patients with COVID-19. But now Tesla appears to be moving into an even more intriguing arena that could affect the fight against the new coronavirus.
Last week, Musk struck up a conversation about Twitter on the COVID-19 tests. When asked about his thoughts on RNA vaccines as an approach to immunize against the new coronavirus, he replied that he believes “synthetic RNA (and DNA) has incredible potential.” Musk later tweeted: “Tesla, as a side project, is building RNA microfactories for CureVac and possibly others.”
Could Tesla really be helping to make RNA vaccines, possibly even one for COVID-19? It doesn’t seem like Musk was joking.
Image source: Tesla.
The CureVac connection
Musk specifically stated that Tesla is working with CureVac. Although German biotechnology is not known in the United States, CureVac is one of 18 developers of drugs with COVID-19 vaccines in clinical trials.
CureVac focuses on the development of therapies and vaccines that use messenger RNA (mRNA). You are probably at least somewhat familiar with a related molecule, DNA, which contains the instructions for building proteins. Messenger RNA delivers DNA instructions to the body’s protein factories – ribosomes.
The idea with mRNA vaccines and therapies is to customize the mRNA to target ribosomes to make proteins to fight a specific disease or to create antibodies to fight a specific virus. Elon Musk was absolutely right when he tweeted that these therapies have “surprising potential”.
Several drug manufacturers are working on the COVID-19 mRNA vaccines in addition to CureVac. Modern is the current leader of the package in terms of clinical progress. BioNTech and his partner, Pfizerrecently announced preliminary positive results at the initial stage of a COVID-19 mRNA vaccine candidate.
However, CureVac is not just focused on COVID-19. The biotech product portfolio includes two cancer immunotherapies and a rabies vaccine in the early stages of testing using the mRNA approach.
Musk’s “microfactories”
What are the “microfactories” Musk referenced in his tweet? It appears to be what CureVac calls mobile mRNA “printers”.
Last year, the Coalition for Outbreak Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) agreed to fund up to $ 34 million for CureVac to develop a prototype of an mRNA printer. The goal of this technology is to be able to produce several grams of mRNA in a few weeks. That is enough mRNA to produce more than 100,000 doses of a vaccine.
CEPI CEO Richard Hatchett stated that “the CureVac vaccine platform could change the rules of the game.” The hope for CureVac’s mRNA printers is that they could be used for rapid delivery to regions where viral outbreaks occur and used in hospital pharmacies to manufacture custom medications.
It is possible that CureVac mRNA printers may be used to produce the company’s COVID-19 vaccine in the future. However, CureVac also has a manufacturing facility in Tubingen, Germany, which can produce several hundred million doses annually.
Why tesla?
Why would CureVac choose Tesla as a partner to build mobile units to produce mRNA for vaccines and other therapies? It actually makes sense.
Musk confirmed in a tweet that the Tesla Grohmann Automation facility is working with CureVac in the “micro-factories”. Tesla Grohmann is located in Prium, Germany, just 250 miles from the CureVac headquarters.
Tesla completed the acquisition of Grohmann Engineering in early 2017. The company has been a leader in automated manufacturing for more than 30 years. His expertise in microprocessors, memory chips, lithium-ion battery cells, and robotics appears to be an excellent choice to help build CureVac’s mobile mRNA printers.
Elon Musk hinted that it might work with other drug makers in the future in their efforts to make mRNA. Could Tesla be on track to expand into the healthcare sector? Probably not, but the company’s technological prowess is certainly applicable to other industries.
Musk even tweeted Thursday that “Tesla will make fabulous shorts in radiant red satin with gold trim.” However, he added that the company “will send some to the Shortseller Enrichment Commission to comfort them in these difficult times,” a sarcastic reference to the Securities and Exchange Commission.
With this tweet, Musk I was jokes. At least I think so. You can’t be sure with Elon Musk.
