Science, distrust and power

mRNA under attack: what is happening in America

Political distrust undermines mRNA innovation in the US, jeopardising global leadership in the biomedical sector

by Francesca Cerati

13 May 2025

3' min read

Key points

The uncertain future
The roots of demonisation
Leadership at risk

3' min read

Five years ago, the US government was spending billions of dollars to support the development, production and distribution of mRNA vaccines, which played a key role in containing the Covid-19 pandemic. Pharmaceutical companies were pouring capital and building ambitious projects centred on mRna. The technology was awarded the Nobel Prize. Investor confidence was soaring. Now, in the space of a few months, the mood in the industry has cooled by a newly hostile political climate.

The uncertain future

The paradox is that the day after his inauguration, Donald Trump celebrated a $500 billion private sector investment in artificial intelligence (Ai) at the White House. At his side, technology mogul Larry Ellison unveiled one of the plan's most ambitious goals: using Ai to design personalised mRna vaccines against cancer. An enthusiasm followed by an abrupt change of course with the appointment of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a well-known opponent of mRNA vaccines, as head of the Department of Health. The result: dismissals of experts, cancellation of funds for HIV and pandemic research, and a hostile climate towards the technology that saved millions of lives during the pandemic. Some local legislators have even proposed banning mRNA vaccines for infectious diseases, fuelling instability in the industry, which is now in crisis.

Deborah Day Barbara, co-founder of the Alliance for mRna Medicines (Amm), speaks of a 'collapse' of the system. Clay Alspach, executive director of Amm, is more direct, calling it an 'existential threat'. The association reports that almost half of the companies in the industry have downsized, cut back or relocated. Some are considering moving clinical trials abroad.

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The roots of demonisation

The demonisation of mRna has deep roots. Conspiracy theories that arose during the pandemic - DNA alterations, population control - still circulate online. Political debate has turned vaccines into ideological symbols. Even the term 'mRNA' has become a target, prompting companies like Moderna to relabel their cancer treatments as 'oncology' or 'immunotherapy'.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who now leads US healthcare, continues to question the safety of vaccines, ignoring clinical data in favour of the technology. During his confirmation hearing, he reiterated unfounded arguments against paediatric vaccination. Meanwhile, hundreds of research grants risk being blocked. The federal authorities, for many, are contributing to an irreversible climate of distrust.

The paradox is obvious. While Trump and his allies claim the successes of Operation Warp Speed - which accelerated the development of Covid vaccines in 2020 - today the government itself seems to want to dismantle the foundations of that achievement. Some, like RNA expert Jeff Coller, still hope that Trump will claim the role of innovator and revive support for mRNA, especially in cancer treatments.

Risk to leadership

But the reality is that the US is in danger of losing global leadership. Countries like Japan, while facing misinformation, continue to invest in manufacturing and testing. American companies, such as Arcturus Therapeutics, are beginning to turn to more stable foreign markets. The future of mRNA technology, the symbol of 21st century biomedicine, could thus take place far from the laboratories that gave birth to it. According to Alex Wesselhoeft of the Mass General Brigham Institute, 'we will see this technology migrate to international competitors'.

To avoid this flight, some companies are changing strategy: reducing the association with the term 'vaccine', focusing on gene therapies and therapeutic proteins, and redefining communication. But the challenge remains enormous. Because, as consultant David Mansdoerfer reminds us, 'the problem is not science. It is trust'. And without trust, innovation risks being left without a home.

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Yet, for more than eight decades, the US has been a world leader in scientific discovery and technological innovation. Collectively, US universities spin off more than 1,100 scientific startups every year, leading to countless products that have saved and improved millions of lives, including heart and cancer drugs and most importantly, mRNA vaccines that helped lead the world out of the pandemic. But now cuts in combination with an anti-science stance are dismantling the infrastructure that made the country a scientific superpower. At best, US research is at risk because of friendly fire; at worst, it is political short-sightedness.