Bayer has signed a collaboration and services agreement with CureVac N.V. (Nasdaq: CVAC), a biopharmaceutical company developing a new class of transformative medicines based on messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA). Under the terms of the agreement, Bayer will support the further development, supply and key territory operations of CureVac's COVID-19 vaccine candidate CVnCoV. To this end, Bayer will contribute its expertise and established infrastructure in areas such as clinical operations, regulatory affairs, pharmacovigilance, medical information, supply chain performance as well as support in selected countries.
"The need for vaccines against COVID-19 is enormous. We are therefore pleased to be able to provide significant support to CureVac, a leader in mRNA technology, in advancing the further development and supply of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate," said Stefan Oelrich, Member of the Board of Management, Bayer AG and President of the Bayer's Pharmaceuticals Division. "We are highly committed to making our capabilities and networks available to help end this pandemic."
"We are very happy to join forces with Bayer, whose expertise and infrastructure will help us make our vaccine candidate CVnCoV even more rapidly available to as many people as possible," said Dr. Franz-Werner Haas, Chief Executive Officer of CureVac. "Building on the positive data we have seen so far with CVnCoV, we now also have another strong partner on our side to get the vaccine to the people who need it following the receipt of the requisite regulatory approvals."
Based on the collaboration agreement, CureVac will be the Marketing Authorization Holder for the product, while Bayer will support CureVac with country operations within the European Union (EU) and selected additional markets. Bayer holds further options to become Marketing Authorization Holder in other markets outside of Europe. The companies plan to combine their strengths for CureVac to be in a position to supply hundreds of millions of CVnCoV doses around the world, once approvals are granted. Together both companies aim to play a meaningful role to contribute to stop the COVID-19 pandemic.
CureVac is currently expanding its partner network for the development, production and distribution of its vaccine candidate. In November 2020, the company announced that it would ramp up its European manufacturing network, working with Wacker and Fareva, amongst others. On December 14, 2020 the company achieved another milestone in the development of CVnCoV with the start of its global pivotal Phase 2b/3.
About Bayer
Bayer is a global enterprise with core competencies in the life science fields of health care and nutrition. Its products and services are designed to benefit people by supporting efforts to overcome the major challenges presented by a growing and aging global population. At the same time, the Group aims to increase its earning power and create value through innovation and growth. Bayer is committed to the principles of sustainable development, and the Bayer brand stands for trust, reliability and quality throughout the world. In fiscal 2019, the Group employed around 104,000 people and had sales of 43.5 billion euros. Capital expenditures amounted to 2.9 billion euros, R&D expenses to 5.3 billion euros.
About CureVac
CureVac is a global biopharmaceutical company in the field of messenger RNA (mRNA) technology, with more than 20 years of expertise in developing and optimizing the versatile biological molecule for medical purposes. The principle of CureVac's proprietary technology is the use of non-chemically modified mRNA as a data carrier to instruct the human body to produce its own proteins capable of fighting a broad range of diseases. Based on its proprietary technology, the company has built a deep clinical pipeline across the areas of prophylactic vaccines, cancer therapies, antibody therapies, and the treatment of rare diseases. CureVac had its initial public offering on the New York Nasdaq in August 2020. It is headquartered in Tübingen, Germany, and employs more than 500 people at its sites in Tübingen, Frankfurt, and Boston, USA.