Corona vaccine from Germany: Curevac announces "decisive milestone" and explains the schedule

In the race for a corona vaccine, the Tübingen-based biotech company is now reporting an important success.

But patience is still required until it is ready for the market.

• Researchers around the world are working on a vaccine against

  Corona *

  .

• The Tübingen biotech company has cleared the first

  hurdle

  .

• The

  starting signal

  for the decisive phase III tests is to be given before the end of the year.

Munich - The Tübingen biotech company

sees itself on the right

path

with the development of a

vaccine.

The first results in the context of phase I tests on humans were "very promising", a

spokesman told Merkur.de * on Monday.

The total of around 250 test subjects at four test centers in

, Hanover,

and

showed “very good tolerability with all tested doses of two to twelve micrograms”.

In addition, the test persons * showed a "very good formation of binding and neutralizing antibodies as well as signs of activation of T cells".

The results achieved were very similar to the immune response of patients who were infected with the Covid-19 virus, it said.

boss,

said on Monday, "the interim phase 1

" are "very encouraging" and represent "a decisive milestone in our

-19 vaccine program".

In view of the positive results, the large-scale phase IIb / III will begin “in the current year”, said Curevac spokesman Thorsten Schüller.

The vaccine is to be tested on around 30,000 subjects in Europe and Latin America.

Corona vaccine from Curevac: Company hopes for market approval by mid-2021

According to the plans,

then submit an application for so-called rolling approval to the European Medicines Agency (EMA) in the first quarter of 2021.

If all goes well, the vaccine could be available in mid-2021, it said.  

In order to meet the expected demand, the company is working flat out to expand its production capacities.

is

a new plant

in Tübingen

.

It should go into operation in 2022 and, depending on the

of 

 , be able to produce at least one billion doses per year.

The building for it is already in place.

Now they want to install the necessary systems, said the spokesman.

plans to

 75 million euros in

the production facilities 

alone.

In July, the biotech specialist secured a loan from the European Investment Bank to finance it.

In addition, the existing plants are currently being "cloned multiple times".

Corona vaccine from Curevac: Innovative approach

Similar to the competitor 

 from Mainz,

has also

in the development of so-called messenger nucleic acids (

).

In this novel approach, messengers are supposed to transport genetic blueprints for the production of unimaginably tiny amounts of antigens into the cells.

The proteins produced should trigger a defense reaction of the immune system, which should then also

 protect

the body against viruses such as the coronavirus * 

.

Biontech is working with US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer to develop a vaccine.

Curevac

 focuses on mRNA with a comparatively low dose.

The company expects this to be particularly well tolerated by the test subjects.

In addition, a low dosage in the subsequent production enables considerable quantity advantages per batch.