(Alliance News) - German biopharmaceutical company CureVac NV on Friday said it will collaborate with the UK government on the development of vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 variants.
The collaboration looks to help prepare against future SARS-CoV-2 outbreaks by working on multiple variant vaccines.
"The UK government and its Vaccines Taskforce has been at the forefront of surveillance, vaccine development and delivery of vaccines for deployment during this pandemic. At CureVac, we believe we have the ability to quickly adapt our mRNA technology to address current variants and prepare for the emergence of new strains. This collaboration is expected to bring to bear our significant combined forces to ensure vaccines keep winning against Covid-19," said CureVac Chief Business Officer & Chief Commercial Officer Antony Blanc.
The collaboration with the taskforce and the UK government "complements and accelerates" CureVac's Covid-19 programme.
Subject to regulatory approval, the agreement includes an initial supply of 50 million doses of variant vaccines to the UK with some production expected to take place in the UK.
Earlier in this week, GlaxoSmithKline PLC said it would collaborate with CureVac to develop next generation mRNA vaccines for Covid-19, with the potential to address multiple emerging variants in one vaccine.
Already approved vaccines from Pfizer Inc and Moderna Inc use the same mRNA technology that give instructions for the body's cells to make a harmless piece of "spike proteins". The spike protein is found on the surface of the virus that causes Covid-19. This in turn makes the body trigger an immune response, offering immunity against any potential future infections.
Glaxo also will support the manufacture of up to 100 million doses of CureVac's Covid-19 vaccine candidate CVnCoV in 2021. CVnCoV is currently in Phase 2b/3 clinical trials.
By Lucy Heming; lucyheming@alliancenews.com
Copyright 2021 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.