CureVac, a Tubingen, Germany-based clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company pioneering the field of mRNA-based technology, raised about $110 million (€100m) in funding.
The round, which added to the approximately $220m raised since founding in 2000, was led by new backer Baillie Gifford, with participation from new investors Chartwave Limited, Coppel Family, Northview and Sigma Group and existing investors dievini Hopp BioTech, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
The company intends to use the funds to further develop its clinical pipeline of natural, chemically unmodified mRNA therapeutic and prophylactic product candidates as well as to conduct research and clinical development to expand proprietary mRNA platform technology.
Founded in 2000 as a spin-off from the University of Tubingen in Germany by Ingmar Hoerr, Ph.D., CEO, CureVac develops drugs that are based on Messenger RNA (mRNA) as a data carrier to instruct the human body to produce its own proteins capable of fighting a wide range of diseases.
mRNA programs include novel mRNA-based cancer immunotherapies and prophylactic vaccines against infectious diseases (RNActive®), molecular therapies designed to trigger the body’s own production of therapeutic proteins (RNArt®), and RNA encoded antibodies (RNAntibody®).
Its most advanced product candidate, CV9104, is being developed in Phase IIb for the treatment of prostate cancer.
The development pipeline also includes clinical programs in non-small cell lung cancer (partnered with Boehringer Ingelheim) and rabies, as well as numerous development programs against infectious diseases, including HIV, Rotavirus, RSV and Tuberculosis.
The company, which has entered into various collaborations with multinational corporations and organizations, including agreements with Boehringer Ingelheim, Sanofi Pasteur, Johnson & Johnson, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and IAVI, also announced the change of its corporate legal form from a German limited liability company (GmbH) to a joint German stock corporation (AG) as part of a process of adapting the corporate structure to facilitate further international growth on the corporate level.
FinSMEs
03/11/2015