Omikron and boosters: Corona vaccine from Germany, which has long been written off, gives great hope
Created: 01/11/2022, 12:50 PM
From: Maximilian Kettenbach
In the future, Curevac and its British partner GlaxoSmithKline want to focus on the development of another Covid-19 vaccine.
© Sebastian Gollnow / dpa
The manufacturers are already researching a vaccine update specifically against the new Omikron variant.
Where does the Tübingen biotech company stand?
Tübingen - It was a shock in the summer when the biotech company Curevac had to publish disappointing data on the effectiveness of its vaccine candidate CVnCoV.
In the first Corona year, the people of Tübingen were at the forefront of the development of the first vaccine.
After the withdrawal from the approval process, things have become quiet around Curevac.
The company does not want to be shipwrecked again and is planning “a pioneering role” with its British partner GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) in the development of a new second-generation vaccine.
Curevac comeback?
A vaccination should be enough against corona variants
The goal: The new vaccine should, among other things, offer longer-lasting protection against new variants in a single vaccination. In preclinical studies, according to information from Curevac CEO Franz-Werner Haas, this showed an earlier and stronger immune response than CVnCoV. “Quite comparable to an approved mRNA vaccine, and compared to CVnCoV it protects better against all tested variants, including the beta, delta and lambda variants. Of course that makes us optimistic. "
For weeks, several pharmaceutical companies have been investigating whether their vaccines need to be adapted to the ever faster spreading coronavirus variant Omikron. The vaccines were originally developed against the so-called wild type of Sars-CoV-2, which was first discovered in China at the end of 2019. While the agents used since the turn of the year 2020/2021 also showed their effect against later virulent mutants such as Alpha or Delta, it could look different with Omikron. Above all, the manufacturers of the mRNA preparations, Biontech / Pfizer and Moderna, have been advertising since the beginning of their first-time vaccines with the possibility of being able to adapt them quickly to virus changes. Both have been preparing their funds for possible mutations of the coronavirus for months.
First data on a fourth vaccination with Biontech from Israel show that an adaptation of the vaccine will probably be absolutely necessary.
Professor Gili Regev, told the Israeli news
site ynet
based on the preliminary results: "We are seeing a certain increase in antibodies, but the increase is not very impressive."
According to the Curevac boss, the pre-produced CVnCoV cans were destroyed or otherwise used: “The dismantling is an unspectacular standard process.
The material is broken down into its individual chemical parts and professionally disposed of ”.
Curevac vaccine for Omicron?
Chef Haas speaks of "limitless potential"
As a result of the withdrawal of the first vaccine, the preliminary contract with the European Commission, in which CVnCoV was intended for acute pandemic needs, ended. Haas said he did not anticipate any pre-payments from the EU of € 450 million to be repaid. Due to the ongoing pandemic, a “continued great need for particularly optimized vaccines” is currently seen.
The federal government had invested 300 million euros in Curevac through the state development bank KfW and, according to KfW, holds a share of 16 percent. The federal government is a very valued and important shareholder for Curevac, said Haas. Investors did not let the failure of the first vaccine unsettle them, he said. "We have strong partners at our side who share our vision that mRNA has unlimited potential for human medicine." This technology is only at the beginning of its development, and the full potential is far from being recognized. The patron of TSG Hoffenheim and Curevac investor Dietmar Hopp also sees it this way: "Curevac will be successful and I will definitely stay as an investor," he said in the summer of
Merkur.de
.
Also exciting: What's next with the protein vaccine Novavax?
The German crisis team general has recently announced it for Germany.
Read here to find out who should get it, what the supposed side effects are.
(
mke, dpa
)
