GSK, CureVac Enter New €150M COVID Vax Pact

GlaxoSmithKline and CureVac N.V. entered new €150 million collaboration to jointly develop next generation mRNA vaccines for COVID-19 with the potential for a multi-valent approach to address multiple emerging variants in one vaccine.

GSK will support the manufacture of up to 100 million doses of CureVac’s first generation COVID-19 vaccine candidate CVnCoV in 2021.

Through this new co-development agreement, the companies will contribute resources and expertise to research, develop, and manufacture a number of novel mRNA vaccine candidates, including multi-valent and monovalent approaches. The goal is to offer broader protection against a variety of different SARS-CoV2 variants, and to enable a quick response to new variants potentially emerging in the future. The development program will begin immediately, with the target of introducing the vaccine in 2022, subject to regulatory approval.

Under the new agreement, GSK will have marketing authorization for the next-gen vaccine, except in Switzerland, and will have exclusive rights to develop, manufacture, and commercialize the vaccine in all countries with the exception of Germany, Austria and Switzerland. GSK will make an upfront payment of €75 million and a further milestone payment of €75 million, based on specific milestones.