Last checked at 
* Says more requests have come in over past few days
* CEO says having "hot" discussions with governments, COVAX
* To start testing on children as young as 12 this month
* Side effect scare over J&J, Astra shots clouds vaccine
rollout
(Adds CEO quote)
By Ludwig Burger
FRANKFURT, April 15 (Reuters) - German biotech firm CureVac
said it has seen the number of requests for its
experimental COVID-19 vaccine increase over the past few days,
as concerns over rare side effects have hit some other
coronavirus shots.
Remarks made to Reuters by a CureVac spokesman on the
growing interest on Thursday were underscored by Chief Executive
Franz-Werner Haas in an analyst call on fourth-quarter results.
"There is much more vaccine needed than is available. We are
talking primarily with governments but also ... with COVAX,"
Haas said, referring to the international vaccine-sharing
facility.
"There are very hot discussions," he added.
The European Union in November secured up to 405 million
doses of CureVac's two-shot vaccine, which has yet to win
regulatory approval, the company's only large supply contract so
far.
Europe's choppy vaccine rollout hit more trouble this week
after Johnson & Johnson (J&J) suspended shipments of its
COVID-19 shot and Denmark said it would drop a similar vaccine
from AstraZeneca over very rare cases of blood clotting.
In many European countries, AstraZeneca's shot has been
limited to the elderly as the side effect in question, clotting
in the brain, has primarily been seen in young and middle-aged
vaccine recipients.
CureVac said in a statement on Thursday that it would start
testing its COVID-19 vaccine on adolescents as young as 12 at
the end of the month, as it gets ready to publish initial
efficacy results for adults in the second quarter.
The spokesman reiterated the group - which is backed by
investors Dietmar Hopp, the Gates Foundation, GlaxoSmithKline
as well as the German government - hoped to file for
regulatory approval at the end of May or early June.
CureVac said it would initially enrol about 40 adolescents
aged 12 to 17 in Peru and Panama, the first stage of a broader
study in this age group.
Its ongoing pivotal Phase 2b/3 study known as Herald, and
initiated in December, has completed recruitment with over
40,000 adult participants in Europe and Latin America, the
company said on Thursday.
Nasdaq-listed CureVac repeated it aim to produce up
to 300 million doses of the vaccine in 2021 and up to 1 billion
in 2022.
(Editing by Susan Fenton, Kirsten Donovan)
