New talks with CureVac expand EU portfolio of future vaccines
Photo © European Union
(BRUSSELS) - The EU Commission concluded Thursday exploratory talks with CureVac to purchase a potential vaccine against COVID-19, offering the possibility for all EU Member States to purchase the vaccine.
The envisaged contract with CureVac would also allow lower and middle income countries or re-direct to European countries.
It is anticipated that the Commission will have a contractual framework in place for the initial purchase of 225 million doses on behalf of all EU Member States, to be supplied once a vaccine has proven to be safe and effective against COVID-19.
The EU executive says it is pursuing intensive discussions with other vaccine manufacturers.
"Each round of talks that we conclude with the pharmaceutical industry brings us closer to beating this virus," said the Commission president Ursula von der Leyen: "We will soon have an agreement with CureVac, the innovative European firm that received earlier EU funding to produce a vaccine in Europe. And our negotiations continue with other companies to find the technology that would protect us all."
Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides said the Commission would continue to work shoulder to shoulder with the Member States and with vaccine developers to fulfil the aims of the EU's vaccines strategy, which was "a vaccine for all".
CureVac is a European company pioneering the development of a completely new class of vaccines based on messenger RNA (mRNA), transported into cells by lipid nanoparticles. The vaccine platform has been developed over the last decade. The basic principle is the use of this molecule as a data carrier for information, with the help of which the body itself can produce its own active substances to combat various diseases.
The European Investment Bank and CureVac signed a EUR 75 million loan agreement for the development and large-scale production of vaccines, including CureVac's vaccine candidate against COVID-19.
The exploratory talks are intended to result in an Advance Purchase Agreement to be financed with the EU's Emergency Support Instrument, which has funds dedicated to the creation of a portfolio of potential vaccines with different profiles and produced by different companies.