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CureVac N.V. is a German
biopharmaceutical
A biopharmaceutical, also known as a biological medical product, or biologic, is any pharmaceutical drug product manufactured in, extracted from, or semisynthesized from biological sources. Different from totally synthesized pharmaceuticals, t ...
company that develops
therapies based on messenger RNA (mRNA). Legally domiciled in the
Netherlands
)
, anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
and headquartered in
Tübingen, Germany, the company was founded in 2000 by
Ingmar Hoerr
Ingmar Malte Hoerr (born 1968 in Neckarsulm) is a German biologist. He pioneered vaccinology research concerning the use of RNA and is a founder of the German biotechnology company CureVac. He created the initial technology used in RNA vaccines ...
(CEO), Steve Pascolo (CSO), Florian von der Mulbe (COO),
Günther Jung
Günther Jung (born 2 September 1937 in Tübingen) is a German chemist. He was professor for Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of Tübingen from 1973 to 2002.
Career
Günther Jung studied chemistry at the University of Tübi ...
, and
Hans-Georg Rammensee
Hans-Georg Rammensee (born 12 April 1953) is a German immunologist and cancer researcher. He has been Chair Professor and Head of the Department of Immunology at the University of Tübingen since 1996. Rammensee has contributed essentially to th ...
. CureVac had approximately 240 employees in November 2015
and 375 in May 2018.
At the beginning of the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
, CureVac was considered a beacon of hope for the development of a German vaccine. The
federal government invested 300 million euros in the company. First, the CureVac vaccine was delayed due to minor problems, while the previously unknown
BioNTech
BioNTech SE ( ; or short for Biopharmaceutical New Technologies) is a German biotechnology company based in Mainz that develops and manufactures active immunotherapies for patient-specific approaches to the treatment of diseases. It develop ...
developed with
Pfizer
Pfizer Inc. ( ) is an American multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology corporation headquartered on 42nd Street in Manhattan, New York City. The company was established in 1849 in New York by two German entrepreneurs, Charles Pfizer ...
the very effective
BNT162b2. In mid-2021, however, it became clear that the CureVac-vaccine was only 47 percent effective and is far away from approval.
The company's focus is on developing vaccines for infectious diseases and drugs to treat cancer and rare diseases. CureVac has entered into various collaborations with organizations, including agreements with
Boehringer Ingelheim,
Sanofi Pasteur
Sanofi Pasteur is the vaccines division of the French multinational pharmaceutical company Sanofi. Sanofi Pasteur is the largest company in the world devoted entirely to vaccines. It is one of four global producers of the yellow fever vaccine. ...
,
Johnson & Johnson
Johnson & Johnson (J&J) is an American multinational corporation founded in 1886 that develops medical devices, pharmaceuticals, and consumer packaged goods. Its common stock is a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the company i ...
,
Genmab
Genmab A/S is a Danish biotechnology company, founded in February 1999 by Florian Schönharting, at the time managing director of BankInvest Biomedical venture fund. The company is based in Copenhagen, Denmark - internationally, it operates thr ...
, the
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation,
Eli Lilly and Company
Eli Lilly and Company is an American pharmaceutical company headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, with offices in 18 countries. Its products are sold in approximately 125 countries. The company was founded in 1876 by, and named after, Colonel ...
,
GlaxoSmithKline,
Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations
The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) is a foundation that takes donations from public, private, philanthropic, and civil society organisations, to finance independent research projects to develop vaccines against emerging ...
, the
International AIDS Vaccine Initiative
The International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) is a global not-for-profit, public-private partnership working to accelerate the development of vaccines to prevent HIV infection and AIDS. IAVI researches and develops vaccine candidates, conduct ...
, and the
government of Germany
The Federal Cabinet or Federal Government (german: link=no, Bundeskabinett or ') is the chief executive body of the Federal Republic of Germany. It consists of the Federal Chancellor and cabinet ministers. The fundamentals of the cabinet's or ...
.
[
]
History
Research collaborations
In 2007, Curevac received the innovation prize of the state of Baden-Württemberg and was also the winner of the nationwide Weconomy competition, which is jointly awarded by the Handelsblatt and the Wissensfabrik.
In October 2013 CureVac launched a collaboration with Janssen Pharmaceuticals
Janssen Pharmaceuticals is a pharmaceutical company headquartered in Beerse, Belgium, and wholly-owned by Johnson & Johnson. It was founded in 1953 by Paul Janssen.
In 1961, Janssen Pharmaceuticals was purchased by New Jersey-based American c ...
Inc., a Johnson & Johnson
Johnson & Johnson (J&J) is an American multinational corporation founded in 1886 that develops medical devices, pharmaceuticals, and consumer packaged goods. Its common stock is a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the company i ...
company, for the development of novel flu vaccines. Also in 2013, CureVac announced the fourth in a series of partnerships with the Cancer Research Institute
The Cancer Research Institute (CRI) is a US non-profit organization funding cancer research and based in New York City. They were founded in 1953 to develop immunologically-based treatments for cancer, and despite their name are a funding body fo ...
and Ludwig Cancer Research
Ludwig Cancer Research is an international community of scientists focused on cancer research, with the goal of preventing and controlling cancer. It encompasses the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, an international non-profit organization f ...
to enable clinical testing of novel cancer immunotherapy treatment options.
In March 2014, CureVac won a prize awarded by the European Commission to stimulate new vaccine technologies. Later, in July 2014, CureVac signed an exclusive license agreement with Sanofi Pasteur
Sanofi Pasteur is the vaccines division of the French multinational pharmaceutical company Sanofi. Sanofi Pasteur is the largest company in the world devoted entirely to vaccines. It is one of four global producers of the yellow fever vaccine. ...
to develop and commercialize an mRNA-based prophylactic vaccine. By September 2014, the company licensed the global rights for its Phase I candidate – CV9202 – to Boehringer Ingelheim. Boehringer was to conduct trials using the mRNA vaccine
An mRNA vaccine is a type of vaccine that uses a copy of a molecule called messenger RNA (mRNA) to produce an immune response. The vaccine delivers molecules of antigen-encoding mRNA into immune cells, which use the designed mRNA as a blueprin ...
in combination with afatinib
Afatinib, sold under the brand name Gilotrif among others, is a medication used to treat non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC). It belongs to the tyrosine kinase inhibitor family of medications. It is taken by mouth.
It is mainly used to treat ...
in advanced and/or metastatic epidermal growth factor receptor
The epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR; ErbB-1; HER1 in humans) is a transmembrane protein that is a receptor for members of the epidermal growth factor family (EGF family) of extracellular protein ligands.
The epidermal growth factor rece ...
(EGFR) mutated non-small cell lung cancer
Non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is any type of epithelial lung cancer other than small-cell lung carcinoma (SCLC). NSCLC accounts for about 85% of all lung cancers. As a class, NSCLCs are relatively insensitive to chemotherapy, compared to s ...
(NSCLC) as well as inoperable stage III NSCLC.
In March 2015, a CureVac investor, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, agreed to provide separate funding for several projects to develop prophylactic vaccines based on CureVac's proprietary mRNA platform. By September 2015, CureVac entered into a collaboration with the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative
The International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) is a global not-for-profit, public-private partnership working to accelerate the development of vaccines to prevent HIV infection and AIDS. IAVI researches and develops vaccine candidates, conduct ...
(IAVI) to accelerate the development of AIDS vaccines, utilizing immunogens developed by IAVI and partners, delivered via CureVac's mRNA technology. That same month, CureVac announced it would open a United States hub in Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
, .
In accordance with its deal with Lilly, the company began construction on a production facility in 2016.
In February 2019, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations
The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) is a foundation that takes donations from public, private, philanthropic, and civil society organisations, to finance independent research projects to develop vaccines against emerging ...
(CEPI) awarded CureVac a $34 million grant from to develop its proprietary "RNA printer" prototype. The technology is expected to allow the company to rapidly produce mRNA vaccine candidates at scale, from multiple locations globally, to bypass the logistical hurdles that often delay the production of vaccines in response to infectious disease emergencies, and also enable the production of personalized medicine
Personalized medicine, also referred to as precision medicine, is a medical model that separates people into different groups—with medical decisions, practices, interventions and/or products being tailored to the individual patient based on the ...
s. The initial uses would be for their candidate vaccines for Lassa fever
Lassa fever, also known as Lassa hemorrhagic fever (LHF), is a type of viral hemorrhagic fever caused by the Lassa virus. Many of those infected by the virus do not develop symptoms. When symptoms occur they typically include fever, weakness, ...
, yellow fever
Yellow fever is a viral disease of typically short duration. In most cases, symptoms include fever, chills, loss of appetite, nausea, muscle pains – particularly in the back – and headaches. Symptoms typically improve within five days. ...
, and rabies
Rabies is a viral disease that causes encephalitis in humans and other mammals. Early symptoms can include fever and tingling at the site of exposure. These symptoms are followed by one or more of the following symptoms: nausea, vomiting, vi ...
.
In July 2020, Tesla, Inc
Tesla, Inc. ( or ) is an American multinational automotive and clean energy company headquartered in Austin, Texas. Tesla designs and manufactures electric vehicles (electric cars and trucks), battery energy storage from home to grid ...
CEO Elon Musk
Elon Reeve Musk ( ; born June 28, 1971) is a business magnate and investor. He is the founder, CEO and chief engineer of SpaceX; angel investor, CEO and product architect of Tesla, Inc.; owner and CEO of Twitter, Inc.; founder of The ...
announced via Tweet that Tesla and CureVac had reached an agreement to produce portable "RNA microfactories" based on this technology to manufacture CureVac's COVID-19 vaccine candidate. CureVac had stated that the bioprinters would be able to produce “more than a hundred thousand doses” within approximately two weeks. At approximately the same time, Tesla and CureVac filed a joint patent
A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A p ...
on the technology. In August, Musk reviewed the project with Curevac while in Germany.
In November 2020, while again visiting German facilities, Musk Tweeted that CureVac was then using a second generation of the technology, and "Version 3 is under development." He said that the platform would be an “important product for the world.”
Investment
By 2017, CureVac had received investments of approximately () in the form of equity and was valued at . In June 2020, the federal government announced that the state-owned development bank KfW
The KfW, which together with its subsidiaries DEG, KfW IPEX-Bank and FuB forms the KfW Bankengruppe ("banking group"), is a German state-owned investment and development bank, based in Frankfurt. As of 2014, it is the world's largest national d ...
would immediately invest 300 million euros in CureVac, which will mean that it will hold a 23 percent stake in CureVac.
On 14 August 2020, CureVac began public trading on the NASDAQ
The Nasdaq Stock Market () (National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations Stock Market) is an American stock exchange based in New York City. It is the most active stock trading venue in the US by volume, and ranked second ...
exchange under the ticker symbol
A ticker symbol or stock symbol is an abbreviation used to uniquely identify publicly traded shares of a particular stock on a particular stock market. In short, ticker symbols are arrangements of symbols or characters (generally Latin letters ...
, CVAC, raising in its initial public offering
An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investment ...
.
Reports of Trump administration overtures
On 11 March 2020, it was reported that CureVac AG's CEO Daniel Menichella was no longer the company's CEO, having been replaced by company founder Ingmar Hoerr
Ingmar Malte Hoerr (born 1968 in Neckarsulm) is a German biologist. He pioneered vaccinology research concerning the use of RNA and is a founder of the German biotechnology company CureVac. He created the initial technology used in RNA vaccines ...
. Menichella was reported to have met U.S. President Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021.
Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...
on 2 March. According to ''Welt am Sonntag
Welt, welts or variants may refer to:
Media
* ''Die Welt'' (''The World''), a German national newspaper
** '' Welt am Sonntag'' (''World on Sunday''), the Sunday edition of ''Die Welt''
* ''Die Welt'', former weekly newspaper in Vienna, Austria
...
'', quoting an anonymous German government source, Trump had attempted to persuade CureVac to relocate to the United States, a proposal vigorously rejected by German officials. On 16 March, CureVac issued a statement on Twitter
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
, stating "To make it clear again on coronavirus: CureVac has not received from the US government or related entities an offer before, during and since the Task Force meeting in the White House
The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...
on March 2. CureVac rejects all allegations from press."
COVID-19 vaccine candidate
CVnCoV is an mRNA vaccine
An mRNA vaccine is a type of vaccine that uses a copy of a molecule called messenger RNA (mRNA) to produce an immune response. The vaccine delivers molecules of antigen-encoding mRNA into immune cells, which use the designed mRNA as a blueprin ...
that encodes a minimal piece of the coronavirus spike protein
In virology, a spike protein or peplomer protein is a protein that forms a large structure known as a spike or peplomer projecting from the surface of an enveloped virus. as cited in The proteins are usually glycoproteins that form dimers or ...
, and activates the immune system
The immune system is a network of biological processes that protects an organism from diseases. It detects and responds to a wide variety of pathogens, from viruses to parasitic worms, as well as cancer cells and objects such as wood splinte ...
against it. CVnCoV technology does not interact with the human genome
The human genome is a complete set of nucleic acid sequences for humans, encoded as DNA within the 23 chromosome pairs in cell nuclei and in a small DNA molecule found within individual mitochondria. These are usually treated separately as the ...
.[
In December 2020, CureVac began a ]Phase III clinical trial
The phases of clinical research are the stages in which scientists conduct experiments with a health intervention to obtain sufficient evidence for a process considered effective as a medical treatment. For drug development, the clinical phases ...
of CVnCoV with 36,500 participants.[ Bayer will provide clinical trial support and international logistics for the Phase III trial, and may be involved in eventual manufacturing should the vaccine prove to be safe and effective.][ In January 2021, CureVac announced a clinical development collaboration for its COVID-19 vaccine, named ''CVnCoV'' (active ingredient zorecimeran), with the multinational ]pharmaceutical company
The pharmaceutical industry discovers, develops, produces, and markets drugs or pharmaceutical drugs for use as medications to be administered to patients (or self-administered), with the aim to cure them, vaccinate them, or alleviate sympto ...
Bayer. As of December 2020, CVnCoV was in a Phase III clinical trial
The phases of clinical research are the stages in which scientists conduct experiments with a health intervention to obtain sufficient evidence for a process considered effective as a medical treatment. For drug development, the clinical phases ...
of 36,500. On 12 February 2021, CureVac announced the initiation of a rolling submission with the European Medicines Agency
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) is an agency of the European Union (EU) in charge of the evaluation and supervision of medicinal products. Prior to 2004, it was known as the European Agency for the Evaluation of Medicinal Products or Euro ...
(EMA) for their vaccine candidate, a time-optimized process for the review of all data necessary for potential market authorization.
On 16 June 2021, the CureVac announced that phase III-trials of its mRNA-vaccine showed an efficacy of 47%. This falls short of the European Medicines Agency
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) is an agency of the European Union (EU) in charge of the evaluation and supervision of medicinal products. Prior to 2004, it was known as the European Agency for the Evaluation of Medicinal Products or Euro ...
's target efficacy of at least 50%.
Beyond CVnCoV, CureVac has also partnered with GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) to develop a new generation of mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccines. Human testing is due in late 2021.
The start of the phase 1 study with the product candidate CV2CoV, which was announced for the fourth quarter of 2021, had to be postponed to the first quarter of 2022. Since an approval-relevant study for the new vaccine can only be carried out in the fourth quarter of 2022, the goal originally set for mid-October of “obtaining official approval for the marketability of an improved Covid-19 vaccine in 2022” can be achieved in 2023 at the earliest.
References
External links
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Biopharmaceutical companies
Biotechnology companies of Germany
Cancer organisations based in Germany
Pharmaceutical companies of Germany
Biotechnology companies established in 2000
German companies established in 2000
Pharmaceutical companies established in 2000
Medical and health organisations based in Baden-Württemberg
Companies listed on the Nasdaq
2020 initial public offerings
Tübingen
Vaccine producers
COVID-19 vaccine producers