CureVac’s COVID-19 vaccine seeks EU approval

A new COVID-19 vaccine that uses the same technology as that of BioNTech-Pfizer’s and Moderna’s vaccines but allows easier vaccine storage and shipment is on the cusp of release.

According to The New York Times (NYT) on Thursday (local time), German pharmaceutical company CureVac will release the results of its phase three COVID-19 vaccine trials as early as next week. The CureVac vaccine uses the same mRNA technology as the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. Once the vaccine is approved, it would be the third mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccine.

CureVac said its COVID-19 vaccine can be kept at normal refrigerator temperatures unlike Pfizer’s and Moderna’s vaccines, which are required to be stored at ultra-low freezing temperatures, about -70 degrees Celsius and -20 degrees Celsius, respectively.

“They look pretty well positioned to clean up the global market,” said Jacob Kirkegaard, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, of CureVac’s new vaccine. The NTY said if CureVac’s vaccine is released and distributed in the developing world, where it is difficult to keep Pfizer’s and Moderna’s vaccines at ultra-low temperatures, it would help them overcome the COVID-19 crisis.

The European Union (EU) has signed a deal for 405 million doses of CureVac’s new COVID-19 vaccine. CureVac is currently waiting for EU approval of its vaccine.


yeah@donga.com