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* Deal with CureVac for 405 mln COVID-19 vaccine doses
* Financial terms not disclosed
* Commission hopes to finalise deal with Moderna
(Adds detail)
By Francesco Guarascio
BRUSSELS, Nov 16 (Reuters) - The European Union has struck a
deal for up 405 million doses of German biotech firm CureVac's
potential COVID-19 vaccine, the head of the EU
executive said on Monday, taking total supplies secured by the
bloc to nearly 2 billion doses.
The deal with CureVac follows EU supply agreements with
AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, Sanofi
, and Pfizer for a combined 1.4 billion doses
of their potential vaccines.
"I am glad to announce a new agreement to buy up to 405
million doses of a vaccine produced by the European company
CureVac," European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen
said, adding the contract was negotiated after EU funding to the
company to develop its vaccine.
The EU, with a population of about 450 million, has been in
talks with CureVac for its experimental COVID-19 vaccine at
least since July, an internal EU document seen by Reuters shows,
confirming an exclusive Reuters report.
The deal will be authorised by the Commission on Tuesday,
von der Leyen said, while the actual signature will take place
some days later.
Under advance purchase agreements negotiated by the EU
during the pandemic, the bloc makes a non-refundable down
payment to a vaccine maker to secure a certain number of doses
for an agreed price, which will then be paid by EU states
willing to buy the shot only after it is authorised as safe and
effective by the EU drugs regulator.
The price agreed for the vaccine has not been disclosed.
The deal will initially cover 225 million doses, with an
option to buy another 180 million.
CureVac was not immediately available for comment.
The Commission president also said she hoped to finalise a
deal soon with Moderna for its COVID-19 vaccine, which
on Monday announced positive interim results from large-scale
clinical trials.
CureVac's approach is based on so-called messenger RNA
(mRNA), pieces of genetic code that prompt human cells to
produce therapeutic proteins - the same technology used by
Moderna and also Pfizer/BioNTech, the other major potential
vaccine to have reported positive late-stage trial results.
(Reporting by Francesco Guarascio @fraguarascio; Additional
reporting by Patricia Weiss; Editing by Nick Macfie and Mark
Potter)
