UK and CureVac to jointly develop vaccines against COVID-19 variants

The UK government has announced a partnership with German biopharmaceutical company CureVac, which will seek to develop vaccines against new variants of COVID-19.

The agreement will combine the UK’s expertise in genomics and virus sequencing with CureVac’s resources and experience in developing mRNA vaccines.

CureVac is also expected to transfer its technology to the UK government, to enable the manufacture of clinical and commercial quantities of vaccines developed under the collaboration.

The UK Vaccine Task Force will work with CureVac to assess several variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19, and then seek to generate candidate vaccines against the selected strains.

The UK will speed up clinical studies with the aim of obtaining emergency or conditional marketing authorizations for vaccines as soon as possible.

In a statement, the UK government added that “nearly all vaccines” developed under the CureVac partnership will be variants of the German company’s existing vaccine, CVnCoV.

“[The agreement with CureVac] means the UK is better prepared for the emergence of any major new virus variant, ”said Clive Dix, Acting Chairman of the UK Vaccine Working Group.

“Because these mRNA vaccines can be quickly adapted, we will be ready to respond quickly to new strains and update vaccines in the same way the influenza vaccine is updated every year – a critical part of bringing end the pandemic once and for all, ”he added.

Last week, CureVac also announced a new collaboration with GlaxoSmithKline to develop next-generation mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccines.

This agreement will focus on the development of new mRNA-based vaccine candidates using multivalent and monovalent approaches.

Next-generation vaccines will aim to provide broad protection against newly emerging variants that could potentially reduce the effectiveness of first-generation mRNA-based injections.

CureVac’s existing COVID-19 mRNA vaccine candidate is currently being tested in a recently launched global Phase 2b / 3 trial.

This advanced stage study aims to recruit more than 35,000 participants aged 18 or over in Europe and Latin America.

Study participants will be given a two-dose schedule of CVnCoV or a placebo to assess the vaccine’s efficacy and safety.

In January, CureVac partnered with Bayer for development, supply and operations in CVnCoV’s key territory.

CureVac will remain the Marketing Authorization Holder for the product, while Bayer will support the company with specific operations in certain EU countries and “additional markets”.