Elon Musk has entered the race to a coronavirus cure by tweeting on July 1 that 'Tesla, as a side project, is building RNA microfactories for CureVac & possibly others.' CureVac is a German company that is developing a portable mRNA production printer for the development of a COVID-19 vaccine.
'In principle, I think synthetic RNA (and DNA) has amazing potential. This basically makes the solution to many diseases a software problem,' tweeted Musk. CureVac is also supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Tesla, as a side project, is building RNA microfactories for CureVac & possibly others — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 2, 2020
The mRNA printers are being designed and shipped to remote locations where vaccine candidates and mRNA-based therapies are read by the machine. Due to the pandemic, the vaccine candidate might win market approval, which will be followed by the approval of hundreds of millions of doses to be produced in Germany.
Some companies in the business of genetic vaccines, such as Inovio, focuses on developing DNA vaccines. CureVac has focused on RNA, the individual strands making the DNA double-helix. The repetitive molecular pattern enables scientists to easily replicate it through a basic biochemical process that won't genetically modify its cells.
mRNA Optimization
The German company is a pioneer of messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines, which are also being pursued by BioNTech (another German company) with its American Partner Pfizer, and Moderna. Pfizer and Moderna are two out of five companies in the United States government's Operation Warp Speed program.
Previously, the company as optimized messenger RNA technology for antibody therapies, cancer therapies, rare diseases, and prophylactic vaccines. CureVac has three core pillars that their mRNA medicine has stood atop for 20 years: 'protein design, mRNA optimization, and mRNA delivery.'
Dr. Franz Werner-Haas, the company CEO, said, 'We have been working on our mRNA platform for almost two decades and are leveraging our deep scientific understanding of the technology. With recurring positive results for Flu, RSV, Rabies, and now our Coronavirus vaccine candidate, we have demonstrated the sustained performance of our mRNA platform. We are convinced that with our expertise and advanced technology we are well-positioned to fight viral outbreaks such as the current one and that our approach may provide the best chance to protect many people from SARS-CoV-2 and other health threats.'
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RNA Vaccine Phase I
On June 17, the biopharmaceutical company announced that their Phase I of clinical trials with a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine has approved by the German Health Authority Paul-Ehrlich-Institute (PEI) and the Belgian Federal Agency for Medicines and Health Products (FAMHP). Initial clinical trial includes 168 participants between 18 and 60 years old, who will be receiving a range of dosages.
Dr. Mariola Fotin-Mleczek, the company's Chief Technology Officer, said, 'We are convinced that we are on the right track with our SARS-CoV-2 vaccine candidate. The data we generated in various animal models indicated that the vaccine candidate induces high virus-neutralizing antibody titers compared to sera from patients who recovered from COVID-19 disease. [The] immune response induced by our vaccine candidate was well balanced and included the generation of spike protein-specific T cell responses. We now look forward to confirm[ing] these results in humans.'
CureVac is currently building a new stationery site that may be able to produce billions of doses if their clinical trials are successful and they get the green light for mass production. They have been working closely with Tesla Grohmann, an engineering company in Prüm, where the mobile printer technology will be developed.
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