CureVac: approval of a new vaccine approach that generates the illusion

BERLIN.- A few weeks ago, the world was delighted with the announcement of a new vaccine that could meet the world’s great need for doses to fight the coronavirus. Today, hope is one step away from becoming reality. CureVac Wait for approval The European Union is getting its Covid-19 vaccine no later than June and is working on expanding its production capacity.

“We expect approval to take place in the second quarter“Said the spokeswoman for the German biotech company.” We are working to continue to develop our production capacity with a growing network of partners. “

Since its establishment in 2000, the biotechnology company has focused in the messenger RNA of the genetic molecule (mRNA), a drug and vaccine technology that has also recently become the focus of the European Union’s procurement negotiations.

The two main widely used coronavirus vaccines developed by BioNTech and Pfizer, as well as Moderna, not only use RNA like CureVac, but have been shown to have the best efficiency rates that inoculation can aspire to.

These two vaccines have been applied to tens of millions of people in 90 countries, but they have a big drawback: they cannot be used in many parts of the world because some countries do not have the capacity to store them in same time. extremely low temperature that they require.

This is the asset of the small German laboratory. CureVac vaccine is stable in a regular refrigerator, which would allow the drug to be distributed to the most affected corners of the planet without major complications.

Unlike Moderna and Pfizer-BioNtech vaccines, the CureVac formula can remain stable at 5 degrees at least three months and can stay 24 hours at room temperature before application.

The company that produces the vaccine, whose clinical trials were conducted in Argentina and other countries in March, thus planning to expand its production capacity to increase vaccination coverage in Europe and potentially for booster vaccines.

Two weeks ago, the laboratory which produces this immunizer which belongs to what scientists call the “second wave of vaccines”, confirmed that Experiments in mice suggest that the vaccine works well against the variant that first appeared in South Africa, that found in the UK and that of Denmark.

“MRNA technology has come a long way since the clinical development of first generation COVID-19 mRNA vaccine candidates began in early 2020,” said the Dr. Igor Splawski, Scientific Director of CureVac.

“Stimulated by the emergence of viral variants that may affect the efficacy of currently approved first generation COVID-19 mRNA vaccines, CureVac and GSK aim to jointly develop second generation vaccine candidates that provide enhanced immune responses. And target emerging variants. . Combined with lower doses, these second generation vaccines could also provide broad protection against selected strains in a multivalent vaccine format, ”he explained.

Submit for approval to European Medicines Agency (EMA) took place in February of this year.

CureVac, listed on the Nasdaq and backed by investor Dietmar Hopp, GlaxoSmithKline and the German government, aims to produce up to 300 million doses this year and 1 billion more in 2022.

Another goal of the company is to bring this new generation of vaccines to market in the United States and other wealthy countries. Due to its powerful RNA, CureVac only requires one dose, so the company can purchase a multivalent or combined approach to treat multiple emerging variants in a single vaccine.

Reuters Agency

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