CureVac – whose vaccine is under regulatory review with the European Medicines Agency (EMA) but has not yet been authorized – notes a ‘reduced short-term peak demand for vaccines following the first wave of pandemic vaccination efforts and corresponding changes in the demand of its first-generation COVID-19 vaccine candidate, CVnCoV’.
The EU has administered 549 million doses across its four authorized vaccines (Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna, AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson) since the first vaccine was authorized in December: with around 62% of the population now fully vaccinated.
Cancelled contracts reduce capacity by 200 million doses a year
Noting the need to align supply with demand, CureVac is cancelling its COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing contracts with Wacker and Celonic.
Announced in November, CureVac’s manufacturing contract with Wacker Chemie AG had seen the latter manufacture mRNA drug substance for CVnCoV at its biotech site in Amsterdam: with the contract allowing for production of more than 100 million doses a year at the site with potential for expansion.
Meanwhile, a deal with Celonic was announced in March this year: covering manufacture of another 100 million doses a year from Celonic’s Heidelberg facility in Germany (including 50 million doses in 2021).
CureVac’s existing agreements with Rentschler Biopharma and Novartis for mRNA production remain in place.
The production of clinical trial material for CV2CoV, the second-generation COVID-19 vaccine candidate jointly developed with GSK, is also unaffected. This candidate is expected to enter the clinic in the fourth quarter of 2021.