First-World Medicine Fighting Coronavirus -- and One Another
"This story is wildly overplayed.""We will continue to talk to any company that claims to be able to help.""And any solution found would be shared with the world."U.S. Official"The German government is very interested in ensuring that vaccines and active substances against the new coronavirus are also developed in Germany and Europe.""In this regard, the government is in intensive exchange with the company CureVac."German Health Ministry spokeswoman"[I am not selling, I want CureVac to develop a coronavirus vaccine to] help people not just regionally but in solidarity across the world.""I would be glad if this could be achieved through my long-term investments out of Germany."Dietmar Hopp, CureVac main investor
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| MARCH 15: 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. |
According to a German Economy Ministry spokeswoman Berlin "has a great interest" in producing vaccines in Germany and Europe, citing Germany's foreign-trade law, where Berlin can examine takeover bids from non-EU 'third countries', "If national or European security interests are at stake". Well, then, everything is copacetic, everyone wants the same thing; credit for developing a badly-needed vaccine for novel coronavirus with intention to make it available globally.
What's the fuss? Ah, an unidentified German government source -- according to the German newspaper Welt am Sonntag -- has revealed that the Trump White House was attempting to secure the work of German scientists for the exclusive benefit of the U.S. That the Trump administration was scheming to gain access to a potential vaccine in development by the German biotech research firm, CureVac with its focus and expertise on proprietary mRNA technology.
mRNA therapeutics represents a different way of producing pharmaceuticals with drugs based on mRNA providing a 'genetic blueprint' which, when injection into the body is capable of instructing cells to produce therapeutic proteins. Proteins produced in labs and bioreactors conventionally are not quite the same as vaccines based on mRNA which prompt the production of antigens by body cells to the molecules on the virus surface, spurring action from the immune system.
So it would seem that Berlin is now making an effort to stop Washington from acquiring the German bioengineering technology company working on a coronavirus vaccine, to move its research to the United States on the basis that the U.S. is attempting to achieve a monopoly on such vaccines. The accusation is that the U.S. president offered funds to CureVac to lure it to the U.S., spurring the German government to make counter-offers to persuade the firm to remain in Germany.
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CureVac's chief production officer and co-founder, Florian von der Muelbe, stated the company had initiated work with a multitude of coronavirus vaccine candidates and was now in the selection phase to work with the two best candidates to begin clinical trials. Based in Tuebingen, Germany, the privately-held company anticipates having an experimental vaccine ready by June or July. Their following step would be to file for permission to proceed from regulators, for testing on humans.
CEO Daniel Menichella appears to have met with President Trump, Vice-Presdent Mike Pence, members of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, and senior representatives of U.S. pharmaceutical and biotech companies to discuss a vaccine. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation had granted financial backing to CureVac in 2015 and 2018 to work on vaccines in the prevention of malaria and influenza.
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Labels: Biotechnology, Germany, Novel Coronavirus, United States
posted by Pieface @ Tuesday, March 17, 2020
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