The biotech company Curevac scared off investors on Thursday with disappointing data on the effectiveness of its vaccine candidate.
But major shareholder Dietmar Hopp is not deterred by this.
Munich - The majority owner of the ailing biotech company Curevac, Dietmar Hopp, wants to hold on to his stake despite the recent setback in vaccine development. "Curevac will be successful and I will definitely stay as an investor," Hopp told
Merkur.de
*
on Tuesday
. He has a “rock solid” belief in the company.
The Tübingen-based biotech company published disappointing data on the effectiveness of its vaccine candidate CVnCoV late on Wednesday evening and was then put under massive pressure on the stock exchange. Late on Thursday afternoon, the share was quoted at around 40 euros, a good 40 percent below the previous day's closing price. Around 6.4 billion euros of market value have thus vanished into thin air. Doubts about the company had already grown in the past few days.
After evaluating the preliminary data, CVnCoV achieved an effectiveness of 47 percent against Covid 19 disease "of any severity," Curevac announced on Wednesday evening.
That would be considerably less than comparable competitors such as Biontech or Moderna.
In field tests, they had achieved values of over 90 percent for their vaccine candidates and are therefore considered reliable protection against severe corona diseases.
Corona vaccine Curevac: Dietmar Hopp largest shareholder
Hopp controls around 47 percent of the shares in Curevac and is therefore the company's largest shareholder.
The SAP co-founder has been investing in biotechnology companies for years.
In addition to Curevac, other companies such as AC Immune, Apogenix and Molecular Health also belong to his portfolio.
The Heidelberg native is said to have invested around 1.4 billion euros in biotech companies in recent years.
The former head of the Walldorf-based software giant is considered one of Germany's greatest patrons.
In addition to medical facilities, for example to fight cancer, Hopp and his foundation also sponsored holiday offers for families with seriously ill children or educational institutions.
The IT billionaire is known to the general public for his commitment to the Bundesliga soccer club TSG Hoffenheim.
Corona vaccine Curevac: Federal government holds 16 percent of the shares
In addition to Hopp, the main owners at Curevac also include the federal government, which holds 16 percent of the shares in Curevac.
In the fight against the corona pandemic, the federal government provided a total of 750 million euros for the research and production of corona vaccines last year.
252 million euros of this went to Curevac.
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