A deal between Curevac and the British pharmaceutical company GSK is expected to bring millions into the coffers of the Tübingen-based biotech company. The funds are urgently needed.
The biotech company Curevac is allowed to sell licensing rights for mRNA flu and Covid-19 vaccines to the British pharmaceutical company GSK. The Federal Cartel Office in Bonn approved the deal. The vaccine candidates were developed on the basis of cooperation agreements between Curevac and GSK. Clinical trials are underway.
Millions for the company coffers
According to Curevac, the license will go to GSK in return for payments of up to 1.45 billion euros and a share. An advance payment of 400 million euros has been agreed, explained a company spokesman at the headquarters in Tübingen. With the sale, Curevac wants to concentrate more on research and development. “We are moving away from developing products completely independently.”
The sale will provide the company with urgently needed funds after struggling with problems in clinical trials and patent disputes surrounding its mRNA technology. Curevac recently announced that it plans to cut almost one in three jobs as part of a corporate restructuring. The company plans to cut 30 percent of its jobs and reduce operating costs by a total of 30 percent starting next year.
A beacon of hope in the pandemic
In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, the biotech company was initially considered one of the hopefuls in the development of a vaccine against the virus. But due to comparatively low effectiveness, Curevac withdrew its first vaccine candidate from the approval process.
The vaccine manufacturer is working on the development of a new second-generation corona vaccine, among other things. The company is also researching vaccines for cancer therapy. However, a product is not yet on the market.
Source: Stern
