|
 New,
more contagious mutations of COVID-19 have emerged in Britain, South
Africa and Brazil and while existing vaccines appear to offer some
protection against them, there are fears further changes in the
virus could evade current shots.
For GSK, the world's largest vaccine maker by sales, the deal marks
a fresh attempt to play a major role in fighting the pandemic after
a COVID-19 alliance with Sanofi ran into delays and a collaboration
with China's Clover Biopharmaceuticals was ended.
GSK, which acquired a 10% stake in CureVac last year, will also
support the production of up to 100 million doses of CureVac's first
generation COVID-19 vaccine candidate in 2021, the companies said in
a joint statement on Wednesday.
A CureVac spokesman said that would firm up group's target to
produce up to 300 million doses this year.
Having started mass testing of its vaccine candidate in Europe and
Latin America in December, CureVac expects an initial readout from
that study in March or April.
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CureVac is also collaborating with Bayer to speed up development and
production of that vaccine.
The German biotech firm is banking on messenger RNA, a cutting-edge
genetic technology that has allowed rivals BioNTech and Moderna to
lead the COVID-19 vaccine development race.
GSK, while having done early research into mRNA vaccines against
various diseases, has so far focused its pandemic response on a more
traditional vaccine approach.
It has been providing adjuvants, which are efficacy boosting
ingredients, to developers of protein-based vaccines.
GSK, which is scheduled to release 2020 results at 1200 GMT, will
pay CureVac 75 million euros upfront, adding another 75 million if
certain development milestones are achieved.
($1 = 0.8308 euros)
(Reporting by Ludwig Burger. Editing by Kirsti Knolle and Mark
Potter)
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