- GSK acquires full rights to develop, manufacture and commercialize globally influenza and COVID-19 mRNA vaccine candidates, including combinations
- CureVac will receive €400 million up front and up to an additional €1.05 billion in development, regulatory and sales milestone payments, as well as tiered royalties; all previous financial considerations from the previous cooperation agreement superseded
GSK plc (LSE/NYSE: GSK) and CureVac NV (Nasdaq: CVAC) announced today that they have restructured their existing collaboration into a new licensing agreement that will allow each company to prioritize investments and focus their respective activities on mRNA development.
Since 2020, GSK and CureVac have been working together to develop mRNA vaccines for infectious diseases. Through this collaboration, GSK and CureVac currently have seasonal influenza and COVID-19 vaccine candidates in Phase II and avian influenza in Phase I clinical development. All candidates are based on CureVac’s proprietary second-generation mRNA backbone. The data generated so far for these candidate vaccines are promising and show their potential to be best-in-class new vaccines.
Under the terms of the new agreement, GSK will take full control of the development and production of these vaccine candidates. GSK will have worldwide rights to commercialize the vaccine candidates. The agreement represents the latest step in GSK’s continued investment in vaccine platform technologies, matching the best platform for each pathogen to develop best-in-class vaccines. mRNA is an adaptable vaccine technology with proven application in emerging and ever-changing viral pathogens due to its ability to promote rapid strain change. GSK continues to develop and optimize its mRNA capabilities through investments and partnerships, including AI/ML-based sequence optimization, nanoparticle design and manufacturing.
CureVac will receive an upfront payment of €400 million and up to an additional €1.05 billion in development, regulatory and sales milestones and tiered royalties ranging from senior individuals to juniors. The new agreement supersedes all previous financial considerations from the previous collaboration agreement between GSK and CureVac. CureVac further retains exclusive rights to additional undisclosed and preclinically validated infectious disease targets from prior collaborations, along with the freedom to independently develop and create partner mRNA vaccines for any other infectious disease or other indications. CureVac’s ongoing patent dispute against Pfizer/BioNTech is not affected by this new agreement.
Tony Wood, Chief Scientific Officer, GSK said: “We are excited about our influenza/COVID-19 programs and the opportunity to develop best-in-class mRNA vaccines to change the standard of care. With this new agreement, we will apply GSK’s capabilities, partnerships and intellectual property to CureVac technology to deliver these promising vaccines at a rapid pace.”
Alexander Zehnder, CEO of CureVac, said: “Collaboration with GSK has been instrumental in developing promising late-stage clinical vaccine candidates using our proprietary mRNA platform. This new license agreement puts us in a strong financial position and allows us to focus on building a strong R&D.”
Completion of the new agreement remains subject to certain antitrust and regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions.
About GSK
GSK is a global biopharmaceutical company dedicated to bringing science, technology and talent together to prevent disease. Find out more at gsk.com.
About CureVac
CureVac (Nasdaq: CVAC) is a pioneering multinational biotechnology company founded in 2000 to advance messenger RNA (mRNA) technology for use in human medicine. In more than two decades of development, optimization and production of this universal biomolecule for medical use, CureVac has established and perfected the key foundational technologies that were necessary for the production of mRNA vaccines against COVID-19 and is currently laying the groundwork for application. mRNA in new therapeutic areas of major unmet need. CureVac uses mRNA technology combined with advanced omics and computational tools to design and develop standard and personalized cancer vaccine candidates. It also develops prophylactic vaccine programs and treatments that allow the human body to produce its own therapeutic proteins. Headquartered in Tübingen, Germany, CureVac also operates offices in the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland and the USA. More information can be found at www.curevac.com.
Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
GSK cautions investors that any forward-looking statements or projections made by GSK, including those contained in this announcement, are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected. Such factors include, but are not limited to, those described in Item 3.D “Risk Factors” in GSK’s 2023 Annual Report on Form 20-F and GSK’s 2024 Q1 Results.