CureVac says in talks with potential vaccine development partners

[November 12, 2020]  FRANKFURT (Reuters) - CureVac is still in discussions with pharma majors to find a potential partner for its experimental COVID-19 vaccine, the German biotech firm's chief executive said on Thursday.

"The location of the partner does not play a role. We are looking for a partner who is best placed to support us," Chief Executive Franz-Werner Haas told a media briefing.

He said that a global infrastructure to monitor possible side effects after market launch was among the aspects to be addressed by a partner, but he added that CureVac may also outsource this task to a service provider.

Haas said the group was close to launching a Phase III trial with about 36,000 participants to find out whether its vaccine can prevent infections and that it plans to produce 300-400 million vaccine doses next year.

(Reporting by Ludwig Burger and Caroline Copley; Editing by Riham Alkousaa)

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