(Adds comments from supply chain expert)
By Tilman Blasshofer and Ludwig Burger
FRANKFURT, June 17 (Reuters) - German biotech firm CureVac
could allow its network of manufacturing partners to be
repurposed to make vaccines developed by other companies should
its own experimental shot fail, its chief executive told Reuters
on Thursday.
The German company saw billions of euros wiped from its
market value on Thursday after its COVID-19 vaccine proved only
47% effective in an initial trial read-out, denting investor
confidence in its ability to take on rival shots.
"At the moment we are of course fully committed to obtain
authorisation, the data will show," CureVac CEO Franz-Werner
Haas told Reuters TV, referring to a final read-out that is
still pending.
"If this capacity is not to be used - we are working with a
whole network of outstanding partners - ... these partners would
of course be free to make other products if we don't have a
product," he said.
CureVac's manufacturing partners include Celonic Group of
Switzerland, Novartis, Bayer, Fareva, Wacker
and Rentschler Biopharma SE.
However, Haas stressed that CureVac's efforts to develop a
new generation of vaccines, a venture where it collaborates with
GlaxoSmithKline, would take precedence and that he would
continue to draw on the external contractors for that drive
Drug supply chain expert Prashant Yadav said that if
CureVac's partners were to make different mRNA vaccine, like
Pfizer-BioNtech's or Moderna's, it
would take at least six to eight weeks to retool their
facilities.
Yadav suggested that the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine might be a
better candidate, given that BioNTech is in Germany and many of
CureVac's manufacturing partners are in Germany and Austria.
(Reporting by Tilman Blasshofer, Ludwig Burger and Patricia
Weiss; Editing by Pravin Char and Richard Chang)
Glaxosmithkline (GSK)