German vaccine maker CureVac has lost some shine in the race for a COVID-19 vaccine after other mRNA-based applicants have caught the attention of regulators. Still, CureVac is reported to have caught a great partner to help build its game-changing RNA “printers” that could turn global interest in its favor.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted Thursday that the electric car maker had signed with CureVac to make portable molecular RNA printers, what Musk called “RNA microfactories,” to help produce doses of injection candidate COVID- 19 from the German vaccine manufacturer.
Musk said his company was working on the printers as a “side project” and that it could hire additional partners in the future.
Tesla, as a side project, is building RNA microfactories for CureVac and possibly others.
– Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 2, 2020
CureVac has previously touted its work on portable “printers” for its mRNA-based vaccines, which would allow the company to produce vaccines on a large scale in remote locations without the standard logistical concerns.
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In February 2019, CureVac received a three-year, $ 34 million grant from the Emergency Preparedness Innovations Coalition (CEPI) to develop its proprietary RNA printer prototype to produce candidates for Lassa fever mRNA vaccines. , yellow fever and rabies.
CureVac printers are designed to quickly create mRNA vaccines against known pathogens, in addition to new and unknown diseases, a category the World Health Organization calls “Disease X”.
After preclinical work, partners aim to advance two disease vaccine candidates named in the Phase 1 trial. Along the way, CureVac will continue to collaborate with its existing partners, including the University of Wisconsin.
CureVac says its mRNA vaccine candidates direct cells to produce proteins or antigens against various diseases. The platform encapsulates the mRNA in a shell of lipid nanoparticles to protect it for delivery. The RNA printer itself, essentially a vaccine-producing device, can produce “more than a hundred thousand doses” in a couple of weeks, biotechnology says. It could work in a hospital pharmacy to help produce custom medications, for example, as well as in outbreak regions.
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If successful, the printers could also be used for CureVac’s COVID-19 injection candidate CVnCoV, which received German and Belgian regulatory clearance to enter Phase 1 human testing in mid-June.
The start of the study of 168 subjects comes days after the German government invested $ 337 million in CureVac to support its efforts to develop and manufacture a coronavirus vaccine.
The phase 1 dose-increasing study, which was supposed to start “quickly,” aims to enroll 168 people ages 18 to 60. Participants will receive CVnCoV doses ranging from 2 micrograms to 8 micrograms to determine the optimal vaccine dose and assess its safety and immune profile. Modern biotechnology with the most advanced COVID-19 mRNA vaccine selected 100 micrograms as the dose for its phase 3 clinical trial.
Another COVID-19 vaccine based on mRNA from Pfizer and BioNTech reported pre-print data from a phase 1/2 trial of 45 patients earlier this week showing that their vaccine successfully produced antibodies against the virus.
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