A year ago, she was traded on a par with Özlem Türeci, co-owner and medical director of Biontech.

While Türeci is now a billionaire and world-famous, Mariola Fotin-Mleczek is stepping down.

Curevac's Chief Technology Officer will leave the company on January 31 after almost 16 years, the mRNA pioneer announced in Tübingen, thanked for the many years of work and emphasized their contribution to mRNA development.

In the future, chief scientist Igor Splawski will lead mRNA development.

Gustave parts

Editor in Business.

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"The reasons are of a personal nature," said Mariola Fotin-Mleczek of the FAZ. Her family is in Poland, she lived in Germany for 33 years.

The Pole studied biology in Stuttgart in the 1990s and then did her doctorate.

"I didn't see my parents very much.

My father passed away last May.

It was a sign to care more about the family.”

She wants to build a guest house for a Catholic family movement near Kraków.

"There families should be able to talk about their faith." She herself comes from this movement, which is very well established in Poland.

The step has nothing to do with the situation at Curevac.

The plans have been in the making for a long time and now is a good time.

Curevac was considered the second German hope for a corona vaccine alongside Biontech, but the first vaccine failed due to its low effectiveness. For the Tübingen company, in which the German state has a stake through KfW, the departure is the next setback. Curevac is working with the pharmaceutical giant GSK on a second-generation vaccine. However, it would probably not be ready until 2023. The departure does not affect the cooperation, GSK announced.

Last week, longtime investor Dietmar Hopp and his investment company Dievini announced that they were reorganizing their biotech legacy.

The costs would be financed through the sale of Curevac shares.

According to Curevac, the step was of a technical nature.

The New York-listed company is currently worth a good €4 billion, less than a quarter of its April 2021 value.