- GSK acquires full rights to globally develop, manufacture and commercialize mRNA vaccine candidates for influenza and COVID-19, including combinations
- CureVac to receive €400 million upfront and up to €1.05 billion additional in development, regulatory and sales milestone payments, as well as tiered royalties; replacing all previous financial considerations from the prior collaboration agreement
GSK plc (LSE/NYSE: GSK) and CureVac NV (Nasdaq: CVAC) today announced that they have converted their existing collaboration into a new licensing agreement, allowing both companies to prioritize investment and focus on their respective mRNA development activities.
Since 2020, GSK and CureVac have been collaborating to develop mRNA vaccines for infectious diseases. Through this collaboration, GSK and CureVac currently have vaccine candidates for seasonal influenza and COVID-19 in Phase II and avian influenza in Phase I clinical development. All candidates are based on CureVac’s proprietary second-generation mRNA backbone. Data generated to date for these vaccine candidates is promising and demonstrates their potential to be best-in-class novel vaccines.
Under the terms of the new agreement, GSK will assume full control over the development and manufacturing of these vaccine candidates. GSK will have global rights to commercialize the vaccine candidates. The agreement represents the latest step in GSK’s continued investment in vaccine platform technologies, pairing the best platform with each pathogen to develop best-in-class vaccines. mRNA is an adaptable vaccine technology with proven application in emerging and evolving viral pathogens due to its ability to support rapid strain switching. GSK continues to develop and optimize its mRNA capabilities through investments and partnerships, including in 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 commercialization milestones and tiered royalties in the high single to low teens range. The new agreement replaces all previous financial considerations from the prior collaboration agreement between GSK and CureVac. CureVac will further retain exclusive rights to the additional undisclosed and preclinically validated infectious disease targets from the prior collaboration, along with the freedom to independently develop and partner with mRNA vaccines for any other infectious disease or indication. CureVac’s ongoing patent litigation against Pfizer/BioNTech is unaffected by the new agreement.
Tony Wood, Chief Scientific Officer at 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’s technology to rapidly deliver these promising vaccines.”
Alexander Zehnder, Chief Executive Officer of CureVac said: “The collaboration with GSK has been instrumental in the development of promising late-clinical vaccine candidates using our proprietary mRNA platform. This new licensing agreement puts us in a strong financial position and allows us to focus on efforts to build a strong R&D pipeline.”
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 uniting science, technology and talent to achieve a better future for people with disabilities. Learn more at gsk.com.
About CureVac
CureVac (Nasdaq: CVAC) is a pioneering multinational biotech company founded in 2000 to advance the field of messenger RNA (mRNA) technology for application in human medicine. In more than two decades of developing, optimizing and manufacturing this versatile biological molecule for medical purposes, CureVac has introduced and refined key underlying technologies that were essential for the production of mRNA vaccines against COVID-19 and is currently laying the foundation for the application of mRNA in novel therapeutic areas with high unmet needs. CureVac uses mRNA technology, combined with advanced omics and computational tools, to design and develop ready-to-use and personalized cancer vaccine product candidates. It is also developing programs in prophylactic vaccines and in treatments that enable the human body to produce its own therapeutic proteins. Headquartered in Tübingen, Germany, CureVac also has operations in the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland and the U.S. 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 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 under Item 3.D “Risk Factors” in GSK’s Annual Report on Form 20-F for 2023 and GSK’s first quarter 2024 results.