Federal government wants to keep Curevac shares

The federal government wants to keep its shares in Curevac, although the company has not yet been able to develop an effective corona vaccine. The "important federal interest" in the participation currently continues, reports the "Spiegel". The news magazine cites a response from the federal government to a small request from the FDP parliamentary group. The Federal Government therefore also sees the Curevac funding from the Federal Ministry of Research "still promising". The Curevac vaccine has long been considered very promising. As recently as April, it had stated that it was hoping for approval by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) in May. The federal government is therefore already planning the first vaccinations with the Curevac vaccine for the second quarter of 2021. In the meantime, the vaccine is no longer intended for the current vaccination campaign: At the end of June, Curevac announced that, according to final evaluations, its vaccine was only 48 percent effective. The Tübingen-based company relies on a modern mRNA vaccine like the Mainz competition from Biontech. To protect itself from possible US access, the federal government invested 300 million euros in the company at the beginning of the pandemic. "We plan for success and want to have more than 100 million cans available by the end of the year", Dietmar Hopp announced in an interview in September 2020. The FDP criticized the continued adherence to Curevac. FDP economic expert Reinhard Houben criticizes in "Spiegel" that the government refuses to admit that the entry into Curevac "has so far not contributed in any way" to reducing dependence on foreign drug development. The member of the Bundestag demanded "to sell the shares in Curevac and to invest the proceeds in available vaccines".