'Trump trying to poach German scientists to get exclusive vaccine'
BERLIN: The US and Germany are vying to produce an exclusive vaccine against the coronavirus. It is being developed in a German laboratory, Die Welt daily reported Saturday.
According to the paper, US President Donald Trump is trying to poach German scientists working on an experimental vaccine against a global health threat that has now killed more than 5,500 people. This is with a view to having an exclusive licence rolled out in the US.
Such a vaccine would be "only for the US," a source close to the German government told Die Welt, though Berlin reportedly is looking to make offers of its own to biotech company CureVac, based in the German state of Thuringia.
The company, founded in 2000, has other sites in Frankfurt and Boston.
The company markets itself as specialising in "development of treatments against cancer, antibody-based therapies, treatment of rare illnesses and prophylactic vaccines".
The lab is working in tandem with the Paul-Ehrlich Institute, linked to the German ministry of health. It specialises in vaccine research.
"The German government is very interested in having the development of vaccines and active substances against the novel coronavirus undertaken in Germany and Europe," a Health Ministry spokesman told Die Welt, adding that the government was in "intensive" talks with CureVac.
As CureVac chief executive Daniel Menichella was invited on March 2 to the White House to meet Mr Trump, US Vice-President Mike Pence and representatives of pharmaceutical companies working on how to respond to the pandemic, the company said on its website without indicating if financial offers had been put on the table.
"We are very confident we will be able to develop a potent vaccine candidate within a few months," CureVac quoted Mr Menichella - who has since given way to founder and incoming CEO Ingmar Hoerr - as saying after his Washington visit. - AFP
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