BAYN Bayer AG

   By Joshua Stein and Ulrike Dauer 
 

Bayer AG will expand its partnership with CureVac NV to produce the company's Covid-19 vaccine candidate in Germany, the companies said in a joint press conference Monday.

Bayer intends to make millions of doses of CureVac's mRNA vaccine at its facilities in Germany, Bayer Head of Pharmaceuticals Stefan Oelrich said.

"We expect to produce 160 million doses in the first 12 months and will increase vaccine production to significantly more than 160 million doses in the second year," Mr. Oelrich said.

The first commercial product from the expanded partnership may be available towards the end of 2021, Bayer said.

CureVac and Bayer will begin Phase-3 tests of the vaccine in the coming weeks, said German Health Minister Jens Spahn, who was also at the press conference.

"Following discussions with the German government it has become clear that current manufacturing capacities for vaccines need to be increased, particularly for potential variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus," Mr. Oelrich said.

Bayer was already working with CureVac on its vaccine candidate by supporting the company in the areas of infrastructure, regulatory affairs, pharmacovigilance, medical information, supply-chain management and country operations within the European Union, Bayer said.

Write to Joshua Stein at joshua.stein@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 01, 2021 06:27 ET (11:27 GMT)

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