Recent Developments of RNA Vaccines and Therapeutics: Reagents, Formulations, and Characterization

The past few years have shown significant clinical success for RNA vaccines in humans. The spread of SARS-CoV-2 into a global pandemic has boosted the transition of many RNAs to clinical trials and accelerated the development process of various types of RNA-based therapeutics, including vaccines, not only for respiratory illnesses but also for a wide range of diseases. Many studies have designed promising RNAs in various forms (small interfering RNA, mRNA, and self-amplifying RNA) or presented novel nanocarriers to maximize the performance of RNA-based therapeutics. There are several crucial aspects that must be covered during RNA vaccine development, including RNA design and synthesis, formulation optimization, and characterization. This paper aims to shed light on RNA vaccines and therapeutics with various properties and applications and provide a comprehensive review of the recent developments of formulation, analytics, and characterization studies.