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Coronavirus: Trump, Merkel fight over exclusive access to vaccine after US tries to poach German drugmaker

The German government made counter-offers to CureVac to stay in the country after Trump offered funds to lure them to the US, according to German newspaper Wel am Sonntag
UPDATED MAR 20, 2020
(Getty Images)
(Getty Images)

German officials are trying their best to convince biopharmaceutical company CureVac to continue their research in Germany after reports that the Trump administration was trying to lure the firm to get its experimental coronavirus vaccines for Americans exclusively.

The German government made counter-offers to CureVac to stay in the country after President Donald Trump offered funds to lure them to the US, according to German newspaper Wel am Sonntag.

Trump is allegedly trying to secure the research conducted by scientists exclusively and would do anything to get a vaccine "only for" the United States, an unidentified German government insider told the paper.

A protest banner seen in front of the headquarters of German biotech firm CureVac housed in the 'Biotechnologiezentrum Paul-Ehrlich-Strasse' stands on March 15, 2020, in Tubingen, Germany (Photo by Matthias Hangst/Getty Images)

Last week, CureVac said they were working with a number of coronavirus vaccine candidates for scheduled clinical trials. And earlier this month, the company's CEO met with Trump and the White House Coronavirus Task Force to discuss a potential vaccine.

However, German politicians have now complained that no country should hold a monopoly on any future vaccine.

"The German government is very interested in ensuring that vaccines and active substances against the new coronavirus are also developed in Germany and Europe," a Health Ministry official said according to the newspaper. "In this regard, the government is in intensive exchange with the company CureVac."

"We confirm the report in the Welt am Sonntag," a spokeswoman for the German Health Ministry said.

CureVac, a Tuebingen-based private company which was founded in 2008, said they were preparing to take the experimental coronavirus vaccines to clinical trials, according to a statement by Florian von der Muelbe, CureVac's chief production officer and co-founder, last week. 

Based to current plans, CureVac hopes to have an experimental vaccine ready for testing on humans by June or July, before seeking a go-ahead from regulators. According to the company, they would apply a mode of action in the coronavirus setting that allows for a low dosage to trigger an immune reaction against rabies.

"These minimal dosages that we have achieved put us in a position here in Tuebingen to produce up to 10 million doses per (production) campaign," von der Muelbe said of the potential vaccine. 

US President Donald Trump addresses the nation from the Oval Office about the widening Coronavirus crisis on March 11, 2020, in Washington, DC (Getty Images)

However, a production cycle, or campaign, can last several weeks. "More than one dose may be required to immunize a person, but one campaign would still serve several million people," he said.  

We had earlier reported that on March 2, former CureVac CEO Daniel Menichella met with Trump, Vice President Mike Pence, members of the White House Coronavirus Task Force as well as senior representatives of pharmaceutical and biotech companies to discuss a potential vaccine at the White House.

"We believe we can develop the vaccine for COVID-19 very, very quickly, and we have the wherewithal to manufacture it, although we would like some additional help on our largest GMP fourth facility," Menichella said at that meeting. 

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