Nobel Prize 2023 causes controversy when 'forgetting' professor who paved the way for COVID-19 vaccine

The 2023 Nobel Prize in Medicine was jointly awarded to Dr. Katalin Karikó (born 1955 in Hungary) and Professor Drew Weissman (born 1959 in Massachusetts, USA) - two scientists whose discoveries contributed to the creation of a new line of vaccines, laying the foundation for the development of vaccines to help fight the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, according to international media, this year's Nobel Prize in Medicine has forgotten Professor Pieter Cullis (University of British Columbia, Canada) - an important piece along with Dr. Kariko and Professor Weissman in the mRNA vaccine research. Meanwhile, these three scientists have received the VinFuture Main Prize 2021.

The trio of scientists Professor Pieter Cullis, Dr. Katalin Karikó and Professor Drew Weissman (from left to right) contributed to creating a new vaccine line that was awarded the VinFuture 2021 Main Prize.

Business in Vancouver analyzed that may be due to the Nobel Prize process, in which the nominators Ms. Karikó and Mr. Weissman may not have fully appreciated the essential contribution Mr. Cullis made to mRNA vaccines.

“For many in the scientific community, the surprise was not that Ms. Karikó and Mr. Weissman won the grand prize, but that their colleague, Mr. Pieter Cullis (Vancouver, Canada), was not named as the winner ,” commented Business in Vancouver.

Together, Dr. Katalin Karikó, Prof. Drew Weissman, and Prof. Pieter Cullis have invented the foundational technology for the COVID-19 vaccine that has saved millions of lives around the world . Karikó and Weissman's main field is designing messenger RNA (mRNA) to become the active ingredients in vaccines. Meanwhile, Mr. Cullis' role is to create a system to deliver these active ingredients into human cells.

“I think the Nobel Committee thought the delivery system (of Professor Cullis's work) had been around for a long time, but they didn't fully understand that this delivery system was actually very new, necessary, and the only system that could get mRNA into cells,” said Mick Hope, a colleague who has known Professor Pieter Cullis since the 1970s.

Business in Vancouver also quoted the assessment of Ali Tehrani, founder of Zymeworks (one of the largest biotechnology companies in Vancouver, Canada) and many entrepreneurs and investors expressing their confidence that Professor Pieter Cullis is completely worthy of the 2023 Nobel Prize in Medicine.

Professor Pieter Cullis (University of British Columbia, Canada).

Previously, three scientists Dr. Katalin Karikó, Prof. Drew Weissman and Prof. Pieter Cullis were awarded many major prizes: Thailand's Prince Mahidol Prize in Medicine (worth 100,000 USD); Canada's Gairdner Foundation Prize worth 100,000 USD or Taiwan's Tang Prize (China) worth 1.7 million USD and a grant of 350,000 USD for future research.

In particular, according to Business in Vancouver, the biggest award that the trio of researchers were honored with was the 2021 VinFuture Prize in the Main Prize category worth 3 million USD. This is an award that has resonated with the world not only because of the value of the prize but also because of its great practical significance in serving humanity.

By honoring three scientists who created breakthrough vaccine technology to help billions of people on earth, Dr. Katalin Karikó, Prof. Drew Weissman and Prof. Pieter Cullis, the VinFuture Prize is considered to have had more comprehensive, practical and far-sighted criteria than the long-standing awards in the world.

Ha Cuong

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