CureVac may let contractors make rival vaccines if own shot fails
By Kathi on Jun 17, 2021 | 04:37 AM IST
German biotech firm CureVac
could allow its network of manufacturing partners to be repurposed to make
vaccines developed by other companies should its own experimental shot fail,
its chief executive told Reuters on Thursday.
The German company saw billions of euros wiped from its
market value on Thursday after its COVID-19 vaccine proved only 47% effective
in an initial trial read-out, denting investor confidence in its ability to
take on rival shots.
"At the moment we are of course fully committed to
obtain authorisation, the data will show," CureVac CEO Franz-Werner Haas
told Reuters TV, referring to a final read-out that is still pending.
"If this capacity is not to be used - we are working
with a whole network of outstanding partners - ... these partners would of
course be free to make other products if we don't have a product," he
said.
CureVac's manufacturing partners include Celonic Group of
Switzerland, Novartis, Bayer, Fareva, Wacker and Rentschler Biopharma SE.
However, Haas stressed that CureVac's efforts to develop a
new generation of vaccines, a venture where it collaborates with
GlaxoSmithKline, would take precedence and that he would continue to draw on
the external contractors for that drive