$430 Million Paid for COVID-19 and Influenza mRNA Vaccine Rights

GSK plc recently announced a restructuring of its collaboration agreement with CureVac N.V. Under the new agreement, GSK will focus on the development of mRNA vaccines for influenza and COVID-19 while withdrawing from other infectious disease projects.

As part of the revised contract reported on July 3, 2024, GSK will pay CureVac €400 million (approx. $430 million) upfront. Additionally, GSK has committed to providing up to $1.13 billion in development, regulatory, and sales milestone payments and offering tiered royalties.

Tony Wood, GSK's chief scientific officer, said in a press release, “We are excited about our flu/COVID-19 programs and the opportunity to develop best-in-class mRNA vaccines to change the standard of care. With this new agreement, we will apply GSK’s capabilities, partnerships, and intellectual property to CureVac’s technology to deliver these promising vaccines at a pace.”

This new deal will replace all previous financial terms from the original agreement. In exchange for these payments, GSK will secure full global rights to develop and commercialize CureVac’s investigational mRNA vaccines for influenza and COVID-19, including combination formulations.

Currently, the partners have seasonal flu and COVID-19 shots in Phase II development and an avian flu candidate in Phase I. Both companies believe that these candidates have best-in-class potential.

Completion of the new agreement remains subject to certain antitrust and regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions. The original collaboration between CureVac and GSK was initiated in July 2020.

CureVac is a multinational biotech company founded in 2000 to advance the field of messenger RNA (mRNA) technology for application in human medicine.