- Building an integrated European vaccine manufacturing network with experienced partners
- Managing supply chain risk by collaborating with several partners for each manufacturing step
- Increasing capacity to reach up to 300 million doses in 2021 and up to 600 million doses in 2022
TÜBINGEN, GERMANY and BOSTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / November 17, 2020 / CureVac N.V. (NASDAQ:CVAC), a biopharmaceutical company developing a new class of transformative medicines based on messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA), announced today that it is accelerating the expansion of its manufacturing network to deliver pandemic-scale volumes of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate, CVnCoV. Preparations for the start of production and required technology transfers are underway.
CureVac aims to build a broad and integrated European vaccine manufacturing network with highly experienced CDMO (Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization) partners for each of the key manufacturing steps for CVnCoV. With this strategy, the company is expecting to significantly increase its existing manufacturing capacities for CVnCoV to up to 300 million doses in 2021 and up to 600 million doses in 2022, while managing potential supply chain risks. An additional large-scale production facility supported by the European Investment Bank (EIB) at CureVac's headquarters in Tübingen is currently in development.
"It is our goal to ramp up the production capacity of our vaccine candidate within a short period of time to ensure a stable supply," said Dr. Florian von der Mülbe, Chief Production Officer of CureVac. "We are currently working with experienced CDMOs across Europe to establish a solid production network. Geographic proximity is an important factor for facilitating alignment and technology transfers."
Over the coming weeks, CureVac expects to announce key CDMO and supplier partnerships. CureVac's CVnCoV manufacturing network will leverage expertise and capacity across Germany, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain and Austria, as well as potentially Sweden, Poland, Italy and Ireland.
About CVnCoV
CureVac began development of its mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccine candidate in January 2020. The compound is an optimized, non-chemically modified mRNA, encoding the prefusion stabilized full-length spike protein of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Phase 1 and 2a clinical trials of CVnCoV began in June and September 2020, respectively. Phase 1 interim data reported in November 2020 showed that CVnCoV was generally well tolerated across all tested doses and induced strong antibody responses in addition to first indication of T cell activation. The quality of immune response was comparable to recovered COVID-19 patients, closely mimicking the immune response after natural COVID-19 infection. The data support CureVac's decision to advance a 12µg dose in its upcoming pivotal Phase 2b/3 study, which CureVac plans to initiate before the end of 2020. Clinical trial material is provided by the company's substantial production capacities for mRNA vaccines at its headquarters in Tübingen, supported by the current expansion of manufacturing capacities to allow for broad-scale manufacturing of CVnCoV for potential commercial supply preparedness.
About CureVac
CureVac is a global biopharmaceutical company in the field of messenger RNA (mRNA) technology, with more than 20 years of expertise in developing and optimizing the versatile biological molecule for medical purposes. The principle of CureVac's proprietary technology is the use of non-chemically modified mRNA as a data carrier to instruct the human body to produce its own proteins capable of fighting a broad range of diseases. Based on its proprietary technology, the company has built a deep clinical pipeline across the areas of prophylactic vaccines, cancer therapies, antibody therapies, and the treatment of rare diseases. CureVac had its initial public offering on the New York Nasdaq in August 2020. It is headquartered in Tübingen, Germany, and employs more than 500 people at its sites in Tübingen, Frankfurt, and Boston, USA. Further information can be found at www.curevac.com.
CureVac Media Contact
Thorsten Schüller, Vice President Communications
CureVac, Tübingen, Germany
T: +49 7071 9883-1577
[email protected]
CureVac Investor Relations Contact
Dr. Sarah Fakih, Vice President Investor Relations
CureVac, Tübingen, Germany
T: +49 7071 9883-1298
M: +49 160 90 496949
[email protected]
Forward-Looking Statements
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SOURCE: CureVac AG via EQS Newswire