GSK and CureVac have restructured an ongoing partnership that gives the British pharma giant control over the development of experimental mRNA-based Covid and flu vaccines, the companies said Wednesday.
CureVac, the German biotech that focuses on mRNA vaccines, will receive an initial payment of €400 million upfront ($430 million) from GSK, and is eligible for another €1.05 billion ($1.1 billion) in future payments if certain milestones are hit. In exchange, GSK is taking full control over the development, manufacturing, and marketing of vaccines for seasonal flu and Covid that are currently in Phase 2 trials, and a bird flu vaccine in Phase 1 studies.
All of the vaccines were developed using CureVac’s mRNA technology. The two companies have been working together to develop vaccines for infectious diseases since 2020.
“We are excited about our flu and COVID-19 programs and the opportunity to develop best-in-class mRNA vaccines to change the standard of care,” said Tony Wood, GSK’s chief scientific officer, in a statement.
Last month, GSK won broader approval from the Food and Drug Administration to expand the use of its vaccine to protect against respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, for at-risk adults as young as 50.
Separately, CureVac said Wednesday that it plans to restructure the company to focus more on early-stage development of mRNA-based medicines for cancer and other diseases. Approximately 30% of CureVac’s 1,000 employees are being laid off, it said.
In a statement, CureVac CEO Alexander Zehnder called the restructuring a “new chapter” for the company. “While the approximately 30% workforce reduction is a difficult decision on a personal level, I am convinced that this is a necessary step to ensure the long-term success of CureVac,” he said.