MOSCOW (MRC) -- Wacker will support production of CureVac’s COVID-19 mRNA-based vaccine candidate at its biotech site in Amsterdam, with production scheduled to start in the first half of 2021, as per BioPharm.
On Nov. 23, 2020, biopharmaceutical company CureVac and contract development and manufacturing organization Wacker Chemie jointly announced that they have signed a contract for the manufacture of CureVac’s COVID-19 mRNA-based vaccine candidate, CVnCoV. Under terms of the initial agreement, Wacker will ramp up good manufacturing practice (GMP) production of the mRNA drug substance for the vaccine at its biotech site in Amsterdam in the first half of 2021.
Preparations for the start of production, technology transfers, and test runs are already underway, the companies reported in a press release. Wacker plans to produce more than 100 million doses of the CureVac vaccine per year at its Amsterdam site. The site can also be further expanded to meet rising demand in the future.
The Amsterdam site has a history of producing vaccines for clinical development and commercial supply, with a portfolio that ranges from conventional live and killed vaccines to protein-based, polysaccharide and glycoconjugate vaccines. Wacker has invested in the site in recent months to extend production to include mRNA-based vaccines.
As MRC reported earlier, Wacker Chemie operates a 90 ktpa EVA compounding plant at the Ulsan site, consisting of two lines. The second line with a capacity of 40 thousand tons of products per year was launched in 2013.
According to MRC's DataScope, September EVA imports to Russia fell by 30,32% year on year to 2,38 tonnes from 3,420 tonnes a year earlier, and overall imports of this grade of ethylene copolymer into the Russian Federation dropped in January-September 2020 by 9,85% year on year to 26,340 tonnes (29,220 tonnes a year earlier).
Wacker Chemie manufactures and markets EVA dispersions under the VINNAPAS brand name. VINNAPAS polymer dispersions are used in a wide range of industries: for the production of complex thermal insulation systems, building and tile adhesives, plaster, building mixtures and mortars, cement sealing slurries and nonwovens.
MRC