Benzinga | Nov 17, 2020 07:22AM EST

CureVac Establishes European-Based Network To Ramp Up Manufacturing Of Its CVnCoV COVID-19 Vaccine Candidate

- Building an integrated European vaccine manufacturing network with experienced partners

- Managing supply chain risk by collaborating with several partners for each manufacturing step

- Increasing capacity to reach up to 300 million doses in 2021 and up to 600 million doses in 2022

T?BINGEN, GERMANY and BOSTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / November 17, 2020 / CureVac N.V. (NASDAQ:CVAC), a biopharmaceutical company developing a new class of transformative medicines based on messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA), announced today that it is accelerating the expansion of its manufacturing network to deliver pandemic-scale volumes of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate, CVnCoV. Preparations for the start of production and required technology transfers are underway.

CureVac aims to build a broad and integrated European vaccine manufacturing network with highly experienced CDMO (Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization) partners for each of the key manufacturing steps for CVnCoV. With this strategy, the company is expecting to significantly increase its existing manufacturing capacities for CVnCoV to up to 300 million doses in 2021 and up to 600 million doses in 2022, while managing potential supply chain risks. An additional large-scale production facility supported by the European Investment Bank (EIB) at CureVac's headquarters in T?bingen is currently in development.

"It is our goal to ramp up the production capacity of our vaccine candidate within a short period of time to ensure a stable supply," said Dr. Florian von der M?lbe, Chief Production Officer of CureVac. "We are currently working with experienced CDMOs across Europe to establish a solid production network. Geographic proximity is an important factor for facilitating alignment and technology transfers."

Over the coming weeks, CureVac expects to announce key CDMO and supplier partnerships. CureVac's CVnCoV manufacturing network will leverage expertise and capacity across Germany, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain and Austria, as well as potentially Sweden, Poland, Italy and Ireland.