CureVac

CureVac N.V. is a German biopharmaceutical company that develops therapies based on messenger RNA (mRNA). Headquartered in Tübingen, Germany, the company was founded in 2000 by Ingmar Hoerr (CEO), Steve Pascolo (CSO), Florian von der Mulbe (COO), Günther Jung, and Hans-Georg Rammensee. CureVac has approximately 375 employees since May 2018. At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, CureVac was an early starter in the race to develop a German vaccine for protection against COVID-19, caused by infection with the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Clinical trials for the CureVac COVID-19 Vaccine (CVnCoV) began in June 2020, and in the same month, the German Federal Government invested €300 million in CureVac, with one of the terms of the agreement being that KfW will hold a stake of approximately 23% in the company. In June 2021 the company announced that CVnCoV displayed inadequate results in Phase III clinical trials with only 47% efficacy. In October 2021 the company announced it would be abandon further research and development into CVnCoV and would instead focus its efforts in collaborating with GSK to develop improved mRNA vaccine technology. The company's focus is on developing vaccines for infectious diseases and drugs to treat cancer and rare diseases. CureVac has entered into various collaborations with organizations, including agreements with Boehringer Ingelheim, Sanofi Pasteur, Johnson & Johnson, Genmab, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Eli Lilly and Company, GlaxoSmithKline, Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative, and the government of Germany. In 2007, Curevac received the innovation prize of the state of Baden-Württemberg and was also the winner of the nationwide Weconomy competition, which is jointly awarded by the Handelsblatt newspaper and the Wissensfabrik. In October 2013 CureVac launched a collaboration with Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc., a Johnson & Johnson company, for the development of novel flu vaccines.