CureVac enters collaboration with UK government on coronavirus variant vaccines
pharmafile | February 8, 2021 | News story | Sales and Marketing | COVID-19, CureVac
CureVac has entered a collaboration with the UK government to develop and manufacture potential vaccine candidates against coronavirus variants, with the UK set to receive an initial supply of 50 million doses of any vaccines resulting from the partnership.
As part of the collaboration, the Vaccines Taskforce (VTF), informed by the newly-formed Variant Vaccine Expert Advisory Group, and CureVac, with its unique mRNA vaccine platform, will assess multiple COVID-19 variants and are expected to generate vaccine candidates against those selected.
Clinical studies will be expedited in the UK in order to secure emergency or conditional marketing authorisations for selected vaccine candidates against the most threatening variant viruses.
CureVac will also transfer its technology to enable the manufacturing of clinical and commercial quantities of any vaccines that result from the collaboration, as well as manufacturing of the company’s existing vaccine CVnCoV, which is currently in Phase III clinical trials.
CureVac’s current coronavirus vaccine candidate is being developed with support from Bayer, and the company recently announced it is co-developing its next-generation COVID-19 vaccines with GlaxoSmithKline. Both collaborations will benefit from the variants developed with the VTF.
Subject to regulatory approval, the UK will receive an initial supply of 50 million doses of variant vaccines under the agreement, with some production expected to take place in the UK. Additionally, the agreement foresees that manufacturing capabilities will be in place for rapid production of large quantities of variant vaccines for the UK if and when needed over the next three years.
Dr Antony Blanc, Chief Business Officer and Chief Commercial Officer of CureVac, said: “One of the biggest challenges we continue to face in combating COVID-19 is the emergence of multiple variants, each of which poses a potentially significant threat to public health.
“The UK Government and its VTF have been at the forefront of surveillance, vaccine development, and delivery of vaccines for deployment during this pandemic. At CureVac, we believe we have the ability to quickly adapt our mRNA technology to address current variants and prepare for the emergence of new strains. This collaboration is expected to bring to bear our significant combined forces to ensure vaccines keep winning against COVID-19.”
Darcy Jimenez
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