Curevac AG is casting off the deadweight of its pandemic push to translate its mRNA technology into a marketed COVID-19 vaccine, in a new €1.45 billion (US$1.6 billion) deal in which GSK plc will acquire full rights to infectious disease vaccines the two were co-developing.
For European biotech, the first quarter (Q1) of 2023 could hardly be described as the best of times – but the period did not represent the worst of times either. European firms engaged in drug discovery and development collectively raised $1.88 billion during this period. The tally is 4% less than the total raised in the comparable period last year, and it represents just 32% of the total raised during the COVID-19-fueled biotech boom during 2021. But it’s still the third highest Q1 raise during the last six years.
Fresh data about vaccines by Valneva SE and the Gamaleya Research Institute show strength against COVID-19’s omicron variant. The new results helped continue a worldwide race to create, approve and distribute vaccines to fight the pandemic.
DUBLIN – A strong performance in the final quarter of 2021 pushed equity investment in European biotech firms engaged in discovering and developing therapeutics to a new record of $15.193 billion, a 19.8% increase on last year’s total of $12.682 billion. European biotech firms have now set a new investment benchmark for each of the past five years.
Curevac AG, once a forerunner in COVID-19 vaccine development but later surpassed, said it would terminate its first effort in the field, CVnCoV, withdrawing it from a rolling review at the EMA to focus instead on development of second-generation mRNA vaccine candidates with Glaxosmithkline plc.
The COVID-19 vaccine from Curevac AG looks far less protective than mRNA-based rivals, according to phase IIb/III data, but the company suggested it could still be approved in younger age groups or supplied to poorer countries at lower cost.
LONDON – The U.K. is launching a trial to investigate the potential use of seven different COVID-19 vaccines as boosters, to provide safety and immunogenicity data for if/when immune responses to initial vaccination wane and a revaccination campaign is needed later in the year. The trial, at 18 sites across the country, will recruit 2,886 participants who previously received two doses of either Astrazeneca plc or Pfizer Inc./Biontech SE’s COVID-19 vaccines.
CAJICA, Colombia - Colombia approved two different phase II/III trials for COVID-19 vaccine candidates over the last week, advancing one candidate developed by Germany’s Curevac AG and another by China’s Clover Biopharmaceuticals Inc.
DUBLIN – Curevac AG has entered a global alliance with Bayer AG to accelerate its efforts to bring a third, desperately needed mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccine to market. The vaccine in question, CVnCoV, began a pivotal phase IIb/III trial on Dec. 14.
DUBLIN – European biopharma, like the rest of the global industry, scaled new heights in 2020 from an investment perspective. European firms collectively raised $12.682 billion from the private and public equity markets, as well as substantial levels of debt and grant funding. It was a bumper year for both venture capital investment and for Europe’s growing cadre of listed companies.
