The board of the European Investment Bank on Thursday approved a €75 million equity investment in the biotech company CureVac to develop and produce an experimental coronavirus vaccine.
The decision highlights the unusual process behind the EUs efforts to back the German firm in the global race for COVID-19 vaccines — and amid reports that the U.S. was trying to poach the company. Commission President Ursula von der Leyen had already announced an EU financing offer for CureVac — a decision thats not hers to make — more than a month before the bank gave its sign-off.
On March 16, the Commission announced that it had “offered up to €80 million of financial support” to CureVac so it could finish research and scale up production of its mRNA vaccine. The support “would come in form of an EU guarantee of a currently assessed [European Investment Bank] loan of an identical amount.”
That announcement followed a video call von der Leyen held earlier that day with CureVac officials, as well as Research Commissioner Mariya Gabriel and Ambroise Fayolle, the EIBs vice president for innovation. The call occurred after German media exploded with reports that U.S. President Donald Trump wanted to secure exclusive access for Americans to the companys coronavirus vaccine, should it prove successful. (CureVac officials and the White House denied the allegations at the time.)
Von der Leyen took note of the alleged poaching attempt at a press conference on March 17. “Its a European company. We wanted to keep it in Europe. It wanted to stay in Europe. It was very important to give it the necessary funding, and that has happened yesterday,” she said.
However, at the time of those statements, the European Investment Bank was still far from a decision about whether to offer CureVac financing. According to the EIBs page devoted to CureVacs application for support for research, development and manufacture of a vaccine “on a very large scale,” the project was listed as “under appraisal” by the bank on March 19 — marking the official beginning of that process.
The EIB boards decision to offer the financing will now trigger negotiations with CureVac over the terms of how the loan will play out, including benchmarks the company may have to meet before receiving some funds. Typically, the EIB announces its loan recipients only after these negotiations are complete.
However, Fayolle signaled the banks resolve to help CureVac before the appraisal was officially underway. “We are determined to do our best to support CureVac scale-up needs for the benefits of EU citizen [sic] and beyond,” he said in the Commission press release dated March 16.
In another sign of the CoRead More – Source
The board of the European Investment Bank on Thursday approved a €75 million equity investment in the biotech company CureVac to develop and produce an experimental coronavirus vaccine.
The decision highlights the unusual process behind the EUs efforts to back the German firm in the global race for COVID-19 vaccines — and amid reports that the U.S. was trying to poach the company. Commission President Ursula von der Leyen had already announced an EU financing offer for CureVac — a decision thats not hers to make — more than a month before the bank gave its sign-off.
On March 16, the Commission announced that it had “offered up to €80 million of financial support” to CureVac so it could finish research and scale up production of its mRNA vaccine. The support “would come in form of an EU guarantee of a currently assessed [European Investment Bank] loan of an identical amount.”
That announcement followed a video call von der Leyen held earlier that day with CureVac officials, as well as Research Commissioner Mariya Gabriel and Ambroise Fayolle, the EIBs vice president for innovation. The call occurred after German media exploded with reports that U.S. President Donald Trump wanted to secure exclusive access for Americans to the companys coronavirus vaccine, should it prove successful. (CureVac officials and the White House denied the allegations at the time.)
Von der Leyen took note of the alleged poaching attempt at a press conference on March 17. “Its a European company. We wanted to keep it in Europe. It wanted to stay in Europe. It was very important to give it the necessary funding, and that has happened yesterday,” she said.
However, at the time of those statements, the European Investment Bank was still far from a decision about whether to offer CureVac financing. According to the EIBs page devoted to CureVacs application for support for research, development and manufacture of a vaccine “on a very large scale,” the project was listed as “under appraisal” by the bank on March 19 — marking the official beginning of that process.
The EIB boards decision to offer the financing will now trigger negotiations with CureVac over the terms of how the loan will play out, including benchmarks the company may have to meet before receiving some funds. Typically, the EIB announces its loan recipients only after these negotiations are complete.
However, Fayolle signaled the banks resolve to help CureVac before the appraisal was officially underway. “We are determined to do our best to support CureVac scale-up needs for the benefits of EU citizen [sic] and beyond,” he said in the Commission press release dated March 16.
In another sign of the CoRead More – Source
