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European Commission - Press release
 
Coronavirus: Commission offers financing to innovative vaccines company
CureVac
 
Brussels, 16 March 2020
 
Today, the Commission offered up to €80 million of financial support to CureVac, a higly innovative
vaccine developer from Tübingen, Germany, to scale up development and production of a vaccine
against the Coronavirus in Europe. Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Commissioner for
Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth, Mariya Gabriel, discussed with the CureVac
management via videoconference. The Vice-President of the European Investment Bank (EIB),
Ambroise Fayolle, also participated. The support would come in form of an EU guarantee of a currently
assessed EIB loan of an identical amount, in the framework of the InnovFin Infectious Disease Finance
Facility under Horizon 2020.
Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said: “In this public health crisis it is of utmost
importance that we support our leading researchers and tech companies. We are determined to
provide CureVac with the financing it needs to quickly scale up development and production of a
vaccine against the Coronavirus. I am proud that we have leading companies like CureVac in the EU.
Their home is here. But their vaccines will benefit everyone, in Europe and beyond.”

Mariya Gabriel, Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth, said: 
Supporting excellent EU research and innovation is an essential part of our coordinated response
against the spread of the Coronavirus. In 2014, CureVac won EU's first ever innovation inducement
prize. We are committed to support further its EU-based research and innovation in these critical
times. Science and innovation in Europe are at the heart of our policies for protecting people's health.”

Ambroise Fayolle, Vice-President for Innovation in the European Investment Bank, said: “The EIB is
and remains the EU Bank for innovation, even more than ever in the current health crisis. Thanks to
our strong and fruitful long partnership with the Commission in the area of research and innovation
financial instruments (InnovFin), we are determined to do our best to support CureVac scale up needs
for the benefits of EU citizen and beyond.”   

Founded in 2000, CureVac is a German biopharmaceutical company that has developed a novel
technology to overcome one of the biggest barriers to using vaccines: the need to keep them stable
without refrigeration. Its vaccine technology is based on messenger RNA (mRNA) molecules that
stimulate the immune system. Preliminary studies have shown that the technology holds a promise for
rapid response to COVID-19. If proven, millions of vaccine doses could potentially be produced at low
costs in existing CureVac production facilities. CureVac has already started its COVID-19 vaccine
development program and estimates to launch clinical testing by June 2020.
The Commission recognised CureVac's potential to bring life-saving vaccines to people across the
planet in safe and affordable ways already in 2014 when CureVac received the first ever EU innovation
inducement prize 
of €2 million, funded by the EU's research and innovation programme, FP7. The
award was intended to support further development of the breakthrough idea. Now the Commission
and the EIB are strengthening jointly their efforts to provide the necessary means to CureVac, taking
advantage of their long and fruitful cooperation in financial instruments dedicated to support research
and innovation such as Horizon 2020 InnovFin and in particular its Infectious Disease Finance Facility.
Background
The support to CureVac is part of coordinated EU response to the public health threat of COVID-19.
Working closely with the industry, the Commission has mobilised up to €140 million in public and
private funding to support urgently needed research. On 6 March, the Commission announced that it
selected 17 projects involving 136 research teams to receive a total funding of €47.5 million from its
research and innovation programme, Horizon 2020. The teams will work on developing vaccines, new
treatments, diagnostic tests and medical systems aimed at preventing the spread of the Coronavirus.
In addition, the Commission has committed up to €45 million for research on vaccines and treatments
through a call published on 3 March by the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI), which is to be
matched by the pharma industry, so up to €90 million in all.
In the past years the European Commission has invested greatly in research to prepare exactly for this



type of public health emergency. Several EU funded projects are currently contributing to the European
and global preparedness and response activities.
IP/20/474 
Press contacts:
Johannes BAHRKE (+32 2 295 86 15)
Marietta GRAMMENOU (+32 2 298 35 83)
General public inquiries: Europe Direct by phone 00 800 67 89 10 11 or by email
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Electronically signed on 19/06/2020 16:29 (UTC+02) in accordance with article 4.2 (Validity of electronic documents) of Commission Decision 2004/563

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