The Tübingen vaccine candidate Curevac was a beacon of hope in the fight against Corona. But now the effectiveness of the vaccine is disappointing. This is how the media commented on the setback.
The disappointment was great when the Tübingen biotech company Curevac presented the first interim results of its corona vaccine on Wednesday evening. The own candidate CVnCoV had only achieved a preliminary effectiveness of 47 percent against Covid 19 disease “of any severity”. As a result, the company’s stock market value plummeted.
Curevac was still one of the great hopes in the first corona wave last year. As part of a financing round via the KfW development bank, the German state invested 300 million euros in the company – probably also to prevent third-party access to the know-how. According to media reports, the USA had previously tried under the then US President Donald Trump to secure exclusive rights to a vaccine against the coronavirus from Curevac.
Curevac remains optimistic after the disappointing study data on its Covid-19 vaccine. “We see no reason to slow anything down,” said CEO Franz-Werner Haas in a conference call. This applies both to ongoing research and to preparations for the production of a potential vaccine from Curevac.
Newspapers in Germany comment on the fall of the hopeful. The press review.
“Curevac bitterly confirms that vaccine projects can always fail”
“Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung”: “In contrast to the humble Biontech founders Özlem Türeci and Ugur Sahin, people at Curevac took their mouths very full. That is why the general regret about the lack of effectiveness of the vaccine is mixed here and there with a pinch of malice – especially with a view to the entry of the federal government. The latter could prove to be premature: Even after the share price crashed, the state share, at least on paper, is still worth three times as much as the original investment amount. “
“Ludwigsburger Kreiszeitung”: “That research can fail is in the nature of things. That is not reprehensible. Questions about the participation of the state and financial investments in the company are already being asked. Here, too, clarification must be provided. To make matters worse, rampant in Germany now also has the dangerous delta variant of the corona virus. Nobody can yet say exactly what consequences this will have for the course of the pandemic in the medium term. Only one thing is clear: mishaps and bad luck will remain Spahn’s companions. “
“General newspaper”: “Curevac bitterly confirms that vaccine projects can always fail. And that a success like that of Biontech is not a sure-fire success. Especially in a completely new field of research. You can be wrong – with dramatic consequences. So Curevac has something that was initially seen by many experts as an advantage, but ultimately turned out to be a major disadvantage: In contrast to Biontech and Moderna, Curevac did not chemically modify the mRNA (German: messenger RNS), which is central to the vaccine, which means that one does not get high There is still hope for the second generation of the Tübingen vaccine, which could be used for future corona mutations, because the manufacturer has fundamentally rebuilt the vaccine for this. “
“Mannheim Morning”: “Curevac is working on another candidate, one of the second generation, who should be prepared for the many mutants. Such a media-effective failure, however, lets public trust fall into the abyss. But that’s the wrong way. Because of the researchers It was not the company’s researchers that the vaccine no longer meets today’s standards. Above all, it was management errors. “
“New Osnabrück Newspaper”: “If the people of Tübingen were once considered to be a great beacon of hope and even secured a 16 percent stake from the federal government, they fell further and further behind in the race for the approval of the first corona vaccines – and now their preparation turns out to be not at all effective enough Even if the effectiveness should improve slightly in further studies, Curevac will probably no longer play a role in the current vaccination campaign. For the company, the active ingredient mutates into a flop. The share crashed, within minutes around eight billion euros of market value were destroyed. As is so often the case, it is the taxpayers and private investors who suffer. The risk must have been clear to everyone involved. After all, failure is a realistic option for all vaccine developers. “
“North Bavarian Courier”: “With its bad news that its vaccine was only 47 percent effective for the time being, the company disappointed millions of people and caused panic in the markets. Curevac now has to make amends quickly if it does not want to become completely superfluous with Covid.”
“Reutlinger General-Anzeiger”: “The lack of success of the young company from the university city underlines the high risk in the pharmaceutical industry in general. The development of vaccines and drugs is demanding, complex, lengthy and often does not lead to the desired result. Nevertheless, it was and is good that investors – and in this case also the state – provide capital for such projects. Against the background of the pharmaceutical uncertainties, the rapid success of the Mainz company Biontech with its corona vaccine now appears all the more radiant but badly battered. “
“Stuttgarter Zeitung”: “The setback that this means goes far beyond the company: The world can use any functioning vaccine. Curevac should not be written off either. The first results of a second-generation corona vaccine planned for 2022 are promising. In the fight Against Corona, as the example of the company shows, a plan B is always needed. “
“Southgerman newspaper”: “The former hope Curevac does not initially meet the expectations of its corona vaccine. In an interim evaluation, the effectiveness of the vaccine was only 47 percent; it is not very likely that the results will improve massively. (…) Even if the spectacular success of the first corona vaccines may give a different impression: In pharmaceutical research, failure is the rule rather than the exception. (…) And when it comes to gaining knowledge, failures can also be of great value. The Tübingen-based company should therefore quickly disclose all of his data so that scientists can draw insights for the future from it, because the development of vaccines against coronaviruses is far from over. “
“Südwest Presse”: “The management of the Tübingen-based company Curevac shone last year, that much is now clear, mainly due to good public relations work. Your vaccine was for a long time the greatest hope in the fight against Corona in 2020. Allegedly, then US President Donald Trump was planning even a takeover to reserve the active ingredient for the USA. Curevac mobilized federal aid, the state bank KfW rose 23 percent. Now it is clear: the high hopes will not come true. “
“People’s Voice”: “For the company Curevac, the interim result on vaccine effectiveness is a catastrophe, nothing less. The Tübingen-based company has lost the vaccine race with it, despite a promising starting place. The crash of the share on the stock exchange is the consequence Message only a small setback. It is slowly entering the final spurt. The serum from Curevac probably would not have made much difference anyway. But how it will continue after that, when refreshments will be necessary, what role the pandemic will play in the coming Year, that’s not clear. The end of the pandemic has often been prematurely announced in the past one and a half years. It is therefore to be welcomed that Curevac wants to continue working on its vaccine.
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