MD Anderson Cancer Center to Co-Develop mRNA Cancer Vaccines

A global biopharmaceutical company developing a new class of transformative medicines based on messenger ribonucleic acid (“mRNA”) announced today a co-development and licensing agreement with The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center to develop novel mRNA-based cancer vaccines.

CureVac N.V. stated in a press release on April 16, 2024, that the collaboration creates strong synergies between its unique end-to-end capabilities for cancer antigen discovery, mRNA design, and manufacturing and MD Anderson’s expertise in cancer antigen discovery and validation, translational drug development, and clinical research.

The collaboration will focus on developing differentiated cancer vaccine candidates in selected hematological and solid tumor indications with high unmet medical need.

Following the selection of the most promising validated vaccine candidates and the completion of Investigational New Drug approvals, Houston, Texas-based MD Anderson will be responsible for conducting initial Phase 1/2 studies in appropriate clinical indications.

“We look forward to collaborating with the team at MD Anderson to push the boundaries of mRNA technology and develop impactful therapeutic options for patients in need,” commented Dr. Alexander Zehnder, Chief Executive Officer of CureVac.

“By combining our respective expertise, we believe we can go further and faster in developing novel, off-the-shelf, mRNA-based cancer vaccines that have the potential to improve patient outcomes significantly.”

Both parties will contribute to identifying differentiated cancer antigens based on whole genome sequencing, combined with long- and short-read RNA sequencing and cutting-edge bioinformatics.