CureVac SEES ITS COVID-19 VACCINE SUITABLE FOR STANDARD FRIDGE TRANSPORT

 Reuters 12 November 2020 

© Reuters/Andreas Gebert FILE PHOTO: Employee Philipp Hoffmann, of German biopharmaceutical company CureVac, demonstrates research workflow on a vaccine for the coronavirus (COVID-19) disease at a laboratory in Tuebingen

BERLIN (Reuters) - CureVac's experimental COVID-19 vaccine will most likely be suitable for standard fridge temperature logistics and remain stable at 5 degrees Celsius (41 F) for at least three months, the German biotech firm said on Thursday.

Its vaccine candidate has the potential to fulfil standard vaccine cold chain requirements, CureVac said in a statement.

The stability of the liquid drug has been tested at its anticipated storage concentration, and it has been stored at 5 degrees Celsius C as well as below minus 60 degrees, it said.

The tests also established stability at room temperature for up to 24 hours, it added.

Pfizer and BioNTech on Monday were the first to release data showing that their vaccine worked in a large, late-stage clinical trial. However, their vaccine comes with special challenges as it needs to be stored at minus 70 degrees Celsius or below - equivalent to an Antarctic winter.

© Reuters/Kai Pfaffenbach FILE PHOTO: Outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Tuebingen

CureVac is using the so-called messenger RNA (mRNA) approach for its vaccine, the same as German BioNTech and its U.S. partner Pfizer and as Moderna.

(Reporting by Ludwig Burger, writing by Kirsti Knolle, Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)