Following its own COVID-19 vaccination, GlaxoSmithKline signed a $ 180 million deal to help German biotechnology company CureVac produce 100 million doses of its currently evolving mRNA vaccine. The agreement also lays the foundation for the two to stockpile a next-generation vaccine that will protect against multiple coronavirus variants at the same time.
The partnership is the latest example of a pharmaceutical giant working with a peer – in some cases a competitor – to address the global shortage of much-needed COVID-19 vaccines.
On January 27, Sanofi, one of the world’s leading vaccine manufacturers, announced that it would use its manufacturing skills to manufacture the vaccine developed by competitors Pfizer and BioNTech, which are already licensed in the US and the EU. Sanofi will launch more than 125 million doses of Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine from its factory in Frankfurt, Germany later this year.
“We have made the decision to support BioNTech and Pfizer in manufacturing their COVID-19 vaccine in order to address global needs, as we have the technology and facilities to do so,” said Paul Hudson, executive director. head of Sanofi, said in a statement.
On January 29, Swiss medicine maker Novartis made its own announcement that it would also provide its manufacturing capability for the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine. The company will start manufacturing the vaccine later this year in Stein, Switzerland. “As a company that proposes medicine with advanced therapy platforms, we are committed to leveraging our manufacturing capabilities to support the supply of COVID-19 vaccines and therapies around the world,” said Steffen Lang, Head of Novartis’ Technical Operations, said in a statement. “We expect this to be the first of a number of such agreements.”
In the agreement announced today, GSK will increase its manufacturing capacity to produce 100 million doses of CureVac vaccine in 2021. The vaccine, CVnCoV, is a mRNA vaccine similar to Pfizer / BioNTech that is currently completing a Phase IIb / III clinical trial.
Vaccine 2.0
Previously, GSK had planned to spend this time making its own vaccine that it was developing with Sanofi. The two groups worked together to develop a complementary recombinant protein-based vaccine; Sanofi brought the recombinant technology to the table and GSK worked on the tool, which is usually a compound that enhances the effect of a drug or vaccine.
But the pair announced last December that the vaccine did not elicit an adequate immune response in older adults enrolled in a phase I / II study. The disappointing result has driven GSK and Sanofi’s plans to release the vaccine in early 2021 until later in the year – if approved by regulators.
Now GSK is focusing on helping CureVac get its first generation mRNA vaccine out the door this year – and look to the future of COVID-19 vaccines. With the advent of multiple variants, GSK and CureVac hope to export the second generation of mRNA vaccines by 2022, offering wider protection than current vaccines. The mRNA vaccine platforms are relatively easy to customize, and Pfizer / BioNTech and Moderna have already said they will modify their mRNA vaccines to better protect against variants.
“We believe that the next generation of vaccines will be crucial in the ongoing fight against COVID-19,” GSK CEO Emma Walmsley said in a statement. “This new collaboration builds on our existing relationship with CureVac and means that we will combine our scientific expertise in the development of mRNA and vaccine to promote and accelerate the development of new COVID-19 vaccine candidates.”