The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and biopharmaceutical company CureVac AG recently announced a partnership worth up to $34 million for the development of a vaccine-boosting creation known as The RNA Printer.
The RNA Printer is a mobile, automated printing facility for rapid production of mRNA vaccine candidates capable of targeting known pathogens. These include familiar names like Lassa Fever, Yellow Fever and Rabies, but the prototype would also have the potential to provide rapid response for new, as-yet undiscovered pathogens.
“CureVac’s vaccine platform could be a game-changer, radically improving our ability to respond to the emergence of Disease X,” Richard Hatchett, CEO of CEPI, said. “Disease X could emerge suddenly and have deadly consequences—we’ve seen this happen with Ebola, MERS coronavirus, Zika, and countless other diseases. That’s why we’re striving to develop rapid-response vaccine platforms—like CureVac’s mRNA technology—to defend against these unknown pathogens.”
Beginning in March, CureVac will use the platform in preclinical development of vaccine candidates against Lassa, Rabies and Yellow fever over the next three years. This will be followed by phase 1 clinical trials in people for two off the vaccine candidates.
“CureVac’s mRNA technology can be designed to encode for many proteins or antigens, offering rich potential for the development of vaccines to protect against deadly pathogens,” Daniel Menichella, CEO of CureVac, said. “We are excited to be working with CEPI to unlock The RNA Printer’s potential for rapid onsite delivery to outbreak regions, as well as in hospital pharmacy settings for personalised medicine production.”