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. The biotech firm has been working on the development of mRNA-based coronavirus vaccine and Musk said that he’s impressed by the potential synthetic RNA.

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

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

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Approval for clinical trial

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

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

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

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