CureVac announces 'positive' interim data on its COVID-19 vaccine candidate

CureVac has announced some "encouraging" data on its COVID-19 vaccine candidate.

The German company on Monday reported "positive interim data" on its potential coronavirus vaccine, saying it triggered an immune response during a phase one trial, Reuters reports.

"We are very encouraged by the interim Phase 1 data," CureVac CEO Franz-Werner Haas said. "It represents a critical milestone in our COVID-19 vaccine program and strongly supports the advancement of our vaccine candidate."

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The company in a statement said during its ongoing phase one study, its vaccine candidate "was generally well tolerated across all tested doses," and it "induced strong binding and neutralizing antibody responses." The immune responses were "comparable to recovered COVID-19 patients," the company also said.

CureVac Chief Technology Officer Mariola Fotin-Mleczek said the initial data shows "a robust and highly efficient immune response," while lead investigator Peter Kremsner called the data "highly encouraging." The company plans to provide further details in the coming weeks, it said.

This experimental vaccine candidate from CureVac is taking the same approach as the ones being tested by Moderna and Pfizer, Reuters notes. CureVac is planning to begin the final stage of testing for its vaccine candidate before the end of 2020.