display
Berlin (dpa) - The pharmaceutical giant Bayer wants to get into the production of corona vaccines and help the Tübingen biotechnology company Curevac.
Both companies announced on Monday that they had expanded a cooperation that had already been concluded at the beginning of January.
"We want to make a contribution as quickly as possible to ensure that the pandemic can be combated accordingly," said Bayer board member Stefan Oelrich in Berlin.
An examination of our own possibilities showed that “we have the necessary skills and possibilities to be able to manufacture the mRNA-based vaccine from Curevac”.
Bayer plans to produce 160 million cans in 2022, and more in the second year.
The start is planned for the end of 2021. Due to extensive preparatory work, high quality standards and extensive validation of the systems, an earlier start of production is not possible - the current schedule is already very ambitious, according to the board member responsible for pharmaceuticals.
It usually takes at least a year for a vaccine production facility to be ready.
display
The preparation is currently still being developed by the Tübingen biotechnology company Curevac.
Like the vaccines from Biontech and Moderna, it is based on so-called “messenger RNA” (messenger RNA).
If the further development and approval steps go according to plan, it could be sprayed from this summer - initially with cans that were not manufactured by Bayer.
So far, the Leverkusen-based group, whose pharmaceutical division is based in Berlin, has not produced any vaccines.
The preparation is to be completed in Wuppertal; certain preliminary products come from other locations.
“It's a Made in Germany product, so to speak,” said Oelrich.
"In discussions with the federal government it became clear that the availability of vaccines must be increased further."
This also applies in particular to potential variants of the Sars-CoV-2 virus.
Curevac boss Franz-Werner Haas said: "By the end of the year we will have several hundred million cans available."
So far, 600 million cans have been planned for 2022.
By expanding the existing production network, it would now be at least one billion - in addition to Bayer, there are other cooperation partners, such as Wacker Chemie AG.
Haas emphasized that one's own vaccine could be a basis for getting any further pandemics under control.
display
The EU Commission has pre-ordered 220 million cans from Curevac, of which, according to the Federal Ministry of Health, 53 million were in Germany.
The preparation has to be injected twice, so there are two doses per vaccinated person.
The cooperation between Bayer and Curevac, announced at the beginning of January, initially only contained approval work and other services by the large corporation for the small Swabian company.
However, it was expected that Bayer would also start manufacturing.
With the cooperation, Bayer is also responding to the wish from federal politicians to strengthen Germany as a vaccine location.
North Rhine-Westphalia Prime Minister Armin Laschet (CDU) and Federal Health Minister Jens Spahn (CDU) welcomed the cooperation between the two companies.
"It is something special that we get today as a promise," said Laschet.
display
"We will need vaccines beyond the summer," said Spahn.
It is still unclear whether booster vaccinations are needed.
"Second, it can become possible, through mutations, that a vaccine also has to be adapted."
In addition to these longer-term prospects, short-term improvements are important, which will be discussed this Monday at the planned vaccination summit.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210201-99-255123 / 2
Communication from Bayer