Elon Musk reveals Tesla building RNA micro-factories for firm developing COVID-19 vaccine

Tesla CEO Elon Musk revealed that his company is building RNA micro-factories for CureVac, a German biotech firm which has received regulatory approval from German and Belgian authorities to initiate Phase 1 Clinical Trial of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate. biotech firm has been working on development of mRNA-based coronavirus vaccine and Musk said that he’s impressed by potential syntic RNA.

In March, German media had reported that US President Donald Trump offered “a billion dollars” to secure exclusive rights over research into a vaccine by CureVac. company, in a statement, abstained from commenting on “speculations” and rejected “rumours” of acquisition saying it is focussed on development of mRNA-based coronavirus vaccine to protect people worldwide.

“Based on its inherent mode of action, CureVac sees mRNA as one of most potent molecules to provide fast and efficient solutions in outbreak scenarios, such like Coronavirus (sic),” biotech firm.

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Approval for clinical trial

On June 17, firm anunced that German Health Authority Paul-Ehrlich-Institute (PEI) and Belgian Federal ncy for Medicines and Health Products (FAMHP) have approved Phase 1 clinical trial for its vaccine program. According to CureVac, mRNA vaccine candidate utilises nucleotides without chemical modifications in mRNA and is designed to provide a strong and balanced activation of immune system.

Acting CEO of CureVac, Dr Franz-Werner Haas said in a statement that company is encourd after receiving a green signal from regulatory authorities to start clinical development of COVID-19 candidate. He exuded confidence that early optimisation work will provide a safe and effective low dose vaccine.

“Immune response induced by our vaccine candidate was well balanced and included generation of spike protein specific T cell responses. We w look forward to confirm se results in humans,” Mariola Fotin-Mleczek, CureVac Chief Techlogy Officer, said in a statement.

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