CureVac ^Company

CureVac on March 17 told reporters in a telephone briefing that it was committed to launching animal trials of its mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccine in April, and clinical trials in humans by early summer. The update came a day after the European Commission offered up to €80 million ($88 million) toward scaling up development and productions of the vaccine. The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) awarded the company up to $8.3 million in January for accelerated vaccine development, manufacturing and clinical tests.

During the briefing and in a statement two days earlier, CureVac denied a report in the German newspaper Welt am Sonntag that the administration of President Donald Trump sought to lure German-based CureVac to the U.S. with funding to produce its vaccine exclusively for the U.S. market after then-CEO Dan Menichella visited the White House March 2 with other biopharma executives, while Germany’s government pressed for the company to stay in Tübingen and produce its vaccine for Germany and Europe.

U.S. ambassador to Germany, Richard Grenell denied the German news report via Twitter, but an unnamed German Health Ministry spokeswoman confirmed Germany’s interest in CureVac developing vaccines domestically in a statement to Reuters. Menichella resigned on March 11, and was succeeded by former CEO and founder Ingmar Hoerr, who just five days later took a temporary leave of absence for medical reasons “not caused by coronavirus,” the company said.