German drugmaker CureVac on Dec. 14 began late-stage clinical trials for its COVID-19 vaccine candidate, which uses the same platform as the vaccines Pfizer and Moderna developed.
CureVac's mRNA vaccine is being tested to assess its safety and efficacy in adults of various ages. The trials, which are expected to involve more than 35,000 participants, are taking place in Europe and Latin America.
"With the start of the pivotal Phase 2b/3 study, we have reached another important milestone in the development of our vaccine candidate, CVnCoV," CureVac CEO Franz-Werner Haas, PhD, said in a news release. "The clinical safety and immunogenicity data achieved to date look promising and we are hopeful that this trial will continue to demonstrate the impact of mRNA technology and our vaccine to prevent COVID-19, and to help defeat this pandemic."