The 2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded to Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman for their breakthrough discoveries to use modified RNA for therapeutic treatments. Together with Herbert Tschochner, we have written a short comment to celebrate the occasion. We highlight the importance of the discoveries made by Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman and how they have contributed to the development of RNA-based therapies. The comment can be accessed at Pflugers Archiv – European Journal of Physiology via this link.