WACKER to manufacture CureVac’s COVID-19 vaccine candidate in Amsterdam

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German biotech firm CureVac and Wacker Chemie AG have signed a contract for the manufacturing of CureVac’s COVID-19 vaccine candidate CVnCoV.

CureVac is a biopharmaceutical company developing a new class of transformative medicines based on messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA). The company began development of its mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccine candidate in January 2020.

Under the terms the agreement, WACKER will ramp up GMP (Good Manufacturing Practice) production of the mRNA drug substance for CVnCoV at its biotech site in Amsterdam in the first half of 2021.

WACKER’s CEO Rudolf Staudigl said preparations for the start of production, technology transfers and test runs are already underway.

He said the two companies aim to produce more than 100 million doses of the CureVac vaccine per year at WACKER’s Amsterdam site, adding that there was also further potential for expansion at the site in order to meet rising demand in the future.

“We are proud and highly motivated to make a contribution to the fight against the spread of the coronavirus pandemic together with CureVac,” Mr Staudigl stated.

Dr Florian von der Mülbe, Chief Production Officer of CureVac, added: “With WACKER, we have found a committed and highly experienced partner for the production of our vaccine candidate in the Netherlands.”

Image credit: https://www.curevac.com/