TÜBINGEN, Germany / BOSTON, USA and Luxembourg – December 9, 2020
CureVac N.V. (Nasdaq: CVAC), a global clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing a new class of transformative medicines based on messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA), and Fareva today announced an agreement regarding the fill & finish manufacturing of CureVac´s COVID-19 vaccine candidate, CVnCoV, at Fareva’s Pau and Val-de-Reuil-sites in France.
“We are proud to contribute to the fill & finish manufacturing of this innovative vaccine candidate from CureVac. This agreement confirms Fareva’s strategy of investing significantly in the areas of sterile manufacturing, enlarging our technology offering,” said Alexandre Bastit, Vice President of EMEA Pharma Sales at Fareva.
“We are pleased to partner with Fareva for the fill & finish manufacturing of our COVID-19 vaccine candidate in France,” added Dr. Florian von der Mülbe, Chief Production Officer of CureVac. “Fareva is an experienced and reliable partner that will help to increase the overall production capacity for our vaccine, and by partly manufacturing our vaccine in France, we will hopefully be in a position to contribute to the protection of French citizens against the virus.”
CureVac is building an integrated European vaccine manufacturing network with several Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization (CDMO) partners. With this strategy, the company will significantly increase CureVac’s existing manufacturing capacity, allowing CureVac to develop up to several hundred million doses of its vaccines per year and to manage potential supply chain risks by working with partners during each of the key steps in the manufacturing process.
Thanks to the agreement announced today, Fareva will provide the production capacity for filling vials with the vaccine and the diluent at its sites in Pau and Val-de-Reuil, France, supporting the production of millions of doses of CureVac’s COVID-19 vaccine candidate. The mRNA vaccine will be supplied to Fareva by CureVac. Fareva’s Val-de-Reuil-site accounts for more than 500 employees and is dedicated to the manufacturing of sterile Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) and sterile finished dosage forms (e.g., lyophilized vials, prefilled syringes and ampoules). Over the last 10 years, Fareva has invested over 80 million euros in this site and created 250 jobs. The site in Pau is a more recent acquisition by Fareva from Pierre Fabre Group, and is supported by more than 250 employees. It is dedicated to the sterile fill & finish manufacturing of biologics and high potent APIs, including freeze-dried products.
About CVnCoV
CureVac began development of its mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccine candidate in January 2020. The compound is an optimized, non-chemically modified mRNA, encoding the pre-fusion stabilized full-length spike protein of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Phase 1 and 2a clinical trials of CVnCoV began in June and September 2020, respectively. Phase 1 interim data reported in November 2020 showed that CVnCoV was generally well tolerated across all tested doses and induced strong antibody responses in addition to first indication of T cell activation. The quality of immune response was comparable to recovered COVID-19 patients, mimicking the immune response after natural COVID-19 infection. The data support CureVac’s decision to advance a 12µg dose in its upcoming pivotal Phase 2b/3 study, which CureVac plans to initiate before the end of 2020. Clinical trial material is provided by the company’s substantial production capacities for mRNA vaccines at its headquarters in Tübingen, supported by the current expansion of manufacturing capacities to allow for broad-scale manufacturing of CVnCoV for potential commercial supply preparedness.
About CureVac
CureVac is a global clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company in the field of messenger RNA (mRNA) technology, with more than 20 years of expertise in developing and optimizing the versatile biological molecule for medical purposes. The principle of CureVac’s proprietary technology is the use of non-chemically modified mRNA as a data carrier to instruct the human body to produce its own proteins capable of fighting a broad range of diseases. Based on its proprietary technology, the company has built a deep clinical pipeline across the areas of prophylactic vaccines, cancer therapies, antibody therapies, and the treatment of rare diseases. CureVac had its initial public offering on the New York Nasdaq in August 2020. It is headquartered in Tübingen, Germany, and employs more than 500 people at its sites in Tübingen, Frankfurt, and Boston, USA. Further information can be found at www.curevac.com
About Fareva
Fareva, a family-owned company whose strength lies in its financial independence, is one of the world’s leading CDMOs in the pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, make-up, and industrial and homecare fields. Fareva operates in 11 countries with 39 factories and has more than 12,000 employees with annual revenue reaching € 1.8 billion in 2019. For further information, please come and visit us at www.fareva.com
CureVac Media Contact
Thorsten Schüller
Vice President Communications
CureVac, Tübingen, Germany
T +49 7071 9883-1577
CureVac Investor Relations Contact
Dr. Sarah Fakih
Vice President Investor Relations
CureVac, Tübingen, Germany
T +49 7071 9883-1298
M +49 160 – 90496949
Fareva Media Contact
Sebastien Poncet
Vice President Strategic Licensing
Marie Wicart
Communication Director