Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Fareva said it will draw the vaccine from CureVac and provide the capacity for filling vials with the vaccine and the diluent, thus supporting the production of millions of doses of the candidate. The work will take place at its sites in Val-de-Reuil-site in Normandy and Pau in the Pyrenees.

The Val-de-Reuil-site, with more than 500 employees, is dedicated to the manufacturing of sterile Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) and sterile finished dosage forms, including lyophilized vials, prefilled syringes and ampules. 

By its own account, Fareva has invested over €80 million in the Normandy facilities and created 250 jobs. The site in Pau, which is a more recent acquisition from Pierre Fabre Group, employs 250 people and is dedicated to the sterile fill & finish manufacturing of biologics and high potent APIs, including freeze-dried products.

The agreement with CureVac confirms Fareva’s strategy of investing significantly in the areas of sterile manufacturing, enlarging its technology offering, said Alexandre Bastit, the company’s vice president of EMEA pharma sales.

By partly manufacturing the vaccine in France, CureVac’s chief production office,  Florian von der Mülbe, said the biotech “will hopefully be in a position to contribute to the protection of French citizens against the virus.”

CureVac, which has begun Phase 2b/3 clinical trials with its Covid candidate, is building an integrated European vaccine manufacturing network with several CDMO partners. The company said this strategy will allow it to significantly increase manufacturing capacity and develop “up to several hundred million doses” of its vaccines annually. Working with external partners in each of the key steps helps it manage the potential supply chain, it added.

Fareva, which operates 39 production facilities and employs more than 12,000 people, reported annual revenue of €1.8 billion in 2019.

Author: Dede Williams, Freelance Journalist