Methodological Considerations Regarding the Quantification of DNA Impurities in the COVID-19 mRNA Vaccine Comirnaty®

Abstract

DNA impurities can impact the safety of genetically engineered pharmaceuticals; thus, a specific limit value must be set for them during marketing authorisation. This particularly applies to mRNA vaccines, as large quantities of DNA templates are used for their production. Furthermore, when quantifying the total DNA content in the final product, we must observe that, in addition to the mRNA active ingredient, DNA impurities are also encased in lipid nanoparticles and are therefore difficult to quantify. In fact, the manufacturer of the mRNA vaccine Comirnaty (BioNTech/Pfizer) only measures DNA impurities in the active substance by means of a quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR), whose DNA target sequence is less than just 1% of the originally added DNA template. This means that no direct DNA quantification takes place, and compliance with the limit value for DNA contamination is only estimated from the qPCR data using mathematical extrapolation methods. However, it is also possible to dissolve the lipid nanoparticles with a detergent to directly measure DNA contamination in the final product by using fluorescence spectroscopic methods. Experimental testing of this approach confirms that reliable values can be obtained in this way.