GSK and CureVac to develop next generation mRNA COVID-19 vaccines.

GlaxoSmithKline plc and CureVac N.V. announced a new €150 million collaboration, building on their existing relationship, to jointly develop next generation mRNA vaccines for COVID-19 with the potential for a multi-valent approach to address multiple emerging variants in one vaccine.GSK will also support the manufacture of up to 100 million doses of CureVac’s first generation COVID-19 vaccine candidate CVnCoV in 2021. . The aim of this work is to offer broader protection against a variety of different SARS-CoV2 variants, and to enable a quick response to new variants potentially emerging in the future. This collaboration will build on CureVac’s first generation COVID-19 vaccine candidate CVnCoV, which is currently in Phase II/III clinical trial and on CureVac’s ability to optimise mRNA for a strong immune response, manufacturability, and stability at standard 2-8°C cold chain conditions for vaccines.