GSK takes 10% stake in CureVac for £130m in collaboration deal

GlaxoSmithKline said it would invest £130m to take a 10% stake in Germany's CureVac and collaborate to develop up to five mRNA-based vaccines and antibodies to fight infectious diseases.

CureVac, backed by the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation, has been using mRNA technology to develop a Covid-19 vaccine in Germany and last month said it would start human trials of an experimental treatment there.

The GSK deal includes £104m in cash upfront and a one-time reimbursable payment of £26m for manufacturing capacity reservation, upon certification of CureVac's commercial scale manufacturing facility currently under construction in Germany.

CureVac will be eligible to receive development and regulatory milestone payments of up to £277m, commercial milestone payments of up to £329m and tiered royalties on product sales, GSK said on Monday.

GSK added that it would fund research and development activities at CureVac related to the development projects covered by the collaboration. CureVac will be responsible for the preclinical- and clinical-development through Phase 1 trials of these projects, after which GSK will be responsible for further development and commercialization.

Earlier this month CureVac secured a €75m (£68m) loan from the European Investment Bank to fund its development and production of a COVID-19 vaccine.

It also became the centre of attention in March, after it was reported that the US administration had approached the firm, with a large offer in order to secure exclusive rights to its vaccine in development, and attempted to persuade it to relocate to the US.

German politicians reacted angrily to the reports, and the government subsequently invested €300m in the privately-owned biotech firm in June, taking a 23% stake.