Fact check: Robert Malone is a fraud and is not the inventor of mRNA technology

Are you the victim of misinformation?

The New York Times claims that Robert Malone, the outspoken critic of the mRNA vaccines, is a ‘Covid misinformation star’ and did not invent the mRNA technology that is used in the mRNA vaccines.

This is not true. Malone has the credentials to speak about these topics, his name is on the first studies that report successful in vitro transcription (IVT) of mRNA, and reputable sources speak of him as the discoverer of this technology.

WHAT THE NEW YORK TIMES SAYS

The Latest Covid Misinformation Star Says He Invented the Vaccines

Dr. Robert Malone says he helped invent mRNA vaccines and has been wronged for decades. Now he’s spreading unfounded claims about the vaccines and the virus.

….Dr. Malone also routinely sells himself on the shows as the inventor of mRNA vaccines, the technology used by Pfizer and Moderna for their Covid-19 shots, and says he doesn’t get the credit he deserves for their development. While he was involved in some early research into the technology, his role in its creation was minimal at best, say half a dozen Covid experts and researchers, including three who worked closely with Dr. Malone.

WHAT NATURE MAGAZINE SAYS

A quote from the very beginning of “The tangled history of mRNA vaccines” in Nature magazine, one of the premiere scientific journals, September 2021:

In late 1987, Robert Malone performed a landmark experiment. He mixed strands of messenger RNA with droplets of fat, to create a kind of molecular stew. Human cells bathed in this genetic gumbo absorbed the mRNA, and began producing proteins from it1.

Realizing that this discovery might have far-reaching potential in medicine, Malone, a graduate student at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, California, later jotted down some notes, which he signed and dated. If cells could create proteins from mRNA delivered into them, he wrote on 11 January 1988, it might be possible to “treat RNA as a drug”. Another member of the Salk lab signed the notes, too, for posterity. Later that year, Malone’s experiments showed that frog embryos absorbed such mRNA2. It was the first time anyone had used fatty droplets to ease mRNA’s passage into a living organism.

Those experiments were a stepping stone towards two of the most important and profitable vaccines in history: the mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccines given to hundreds of millions of people around the world. Global sales of these are expected to top US$50 billion in 2021 alone.

ROBERT MALONE’S PATENTS

Robert Malone is named on nine of the important mRNA vaccine patents; his webpage contains his Curriculum Vitae listing the patents for which he is named:

https://www.rwmalonemd.com/general-4

https://assignment.uspto.gov/patent/index.html#/patent/search/resultAbstract?id=6110898&type=patNum

Here is the patent showing that he did indeed invent the very idea of an mRNA vaccine:

https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/patent/US-6710035-B2

Malone is actually one of the holders of a patent for mRNA vaccination technology. Here it is, applied for in 1995, granted in 2005:

https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/eb/3b/20/ff1cd5c5b09d64/US6867195.pdf

EARLY STUDIES

Here are the two earliest studies I can find dealing with mRNA transfection; note that the lead author is Robert Malone:

Malone, R. W., Felgner, P. L. & Verma, I. M. Cationic liposome-mediated RNA transfection Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 86, 6077–6081 (1989). PubMed Article Google Scholar 

Malone, R. W. mRNA transfection of cultured eukaryotic cells and embryos using cationic liposomes Focus 11, 61–66 (1989). Google Scholar 

A kind commenter also alerted me to this study which talks about the development of mRNA technology.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8001631/ from which I quote:

In animals, the first data of the use of successful in vitro transcribed (IVT) mRNA was reported in 1990, while reporter mRNAs were administered into in vivo mice model, and subsequently, protein expression was identified [5].

The reference at the bottom is to this article:

5. Wolff J.A., Malone R.W., Williams P., Chong W., Acsadi G., Jani A., Agnes F., Philip L. Direct gene transfer into mouse muscle in vivo. Science (80-) 1990;247:1465–1468. doi: 10.1126/science.1690918.

Malone R.W. is Robert Malone.

CONCLUSION

Robert Malone’s scientific expertise and right to speak to these questions is well established. The New York Times is lying through its back teeth to discredit a man whose credentials are truly excellent to speak to the issue of mRNA vaccine safety.

Furthermore, they disseminate misinformation about Ivermectin in their article about Malone, for which there is good evidence that it is useful for treating Covid infections.

Here are some links to some of Robert Malone’s articles on substack.

A Health Public Policy Nightmare

Science News: Ivermectin Is Associated with Decreased Mortality as well as improved outcomes, more data on myocarditis after vaccination.

ROBERT MALONE’S INTERVIEW SEP 2022

This interview, which is transcribed on the page, contains more answers to some more recent criticisms.

Robert Malone Responds to Trolls

UNCORRECTED FACT CHECK HALL OF INFAMY

The New York Times earns its place in the uncorrected fact check hall of infamy.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/03/technology/robert-malone-covid.html

I could include some of the abusive commenters here from below too who really do belong here, but I can’t see any need to give oxygen to them; if you have the time you can always go and have a look at the comments yourself. Generally I only want to pick on newspapers and mass media misinformation here, not minor players.

NOTE: KATALIN KARIKO DID NOT DO THE SAME THING

There is a claim going round that mRNA was first synthesized in the eighties by Katalin Karikó at the University of Szeged, Hungary. This claim is grievous misdirection actually: Robert Malone was the first person to get a cell to manufacture a protein from mRNA (it really is quite remarkable that this can be done). This is completely different from what Katalin Karikó did; she synthesized mRNA, and while Malone’s work is built on Katalin Karikó’s work, they are two different things, and Malone’s discovery is really significant when you think about it. How amazing, that cells can be stimulated by external mRNA to produce proteins! (Yes, this is what viruses do essentially, but that science could do this is pretty remarkable.)

REGARDING COMMENTS

I have received a lot of abusive comments on this page directed at me for simply asserting that Robert Malone deserves to be heard if we are to have a proper scientific debate. If that continues I will be shutting down any comments that are abusive or make assertions without links to evidence such as studies, without warning. Note that newspaper articles or government policies are not evidence.

RULES FOR COMMENTING

1) If you have a specific point that you want to refute with evidence, please add a link to the study you are talking about. Peer reviewed studies are okay, blogs that quote or analyse real world data are okay. Newspaper articles or government policy pages are not okay, unless they contain proper links to studies or data.

2) No abuse, no ad hominem comments, no name calling. From now on any commenters who call me names, or who call Dr Malone names, or who call anyone names, will be banned immediately with no warning.

3) I will pray for anyone who calls me names. So I guess if you want to be prayed for and blessed, call me names, and I will ban you from commenting, and also pray for you and bless you at the same time.

4) On the other hand you could just post a nice comment asking me to pray for you or bless you.

5) Isn't it about time people left Dr Malone alone? If you like his substack, read it, if you don't, just ignore it. But this whole name calling thing, denying his credentials which are genuine, making up lies about him (whether on the left or the right) really has to stop.

6) If anyone posts an argument against any of the points I have already established in the article, and if they give no evidence, I may well simply delete their comment anyway. I don't have time to keep arguing these points.

7) Give it a rest, people! The coronavirus is over, according to the US President...(!)

8) I thank God for Doctors like Robert Malone, for having the courage to stand up for the truth. Thank you Doctor Malone.

CHANGE LOG

7:45am September 30th 2022 Added the section about Katalin Karikó, the link to Malone’s September 2022 article responding to Trolls, and the section Regarding Comments.

Also added the following paragraph at the start of the article: This is not true….reputable sources speak of him as the discoverer of this technology.

And the image of patent US6867195 filed in 1995 and which was granted in 2005.