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news.German-based biopharmaceutical firm CureVac has signed an exclusive license agreement with Sanofi Pasteur, the vaccines division of Sanofi, for the development and commercialization of an mRNA-based vaccine against an undisclosed pathogen.
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In 2011, both the firms signed a collaboration and license option agreement for several pre-defined pathogens.
As part of the 2011 deal, CureVac met all pre-agreed milestones and acceptance criteria, and therefore Sanofi Pasteur exercised its first option and extended its exclusive and non-exclusive options on all five pathogens.
Under the new deal, Sanofi Pasteur will fund all research, development, manufacturing and commercialization activities and will have exclusive worldwide marketing rights for the RNActive vaccine.
The deal will see CureVac receive an undisclosed upfront payment from Sanofi Pasteur for the option exercise and an additional payment for extending the option term for the other pathogens.
Additionally, CureVac is eligible to receive additional milestone payments up to EUR150.5m for achieving several clinical, regulatory and commercial milestones, as well as royalty payments associated with products sales of RNActive vaccines.
Sanofi Pasteur head of Discovery Research Nicolas Burdin said the company’s basic objective of finding new vaccine solutions to address patients’ needs is furthered by its collaboration with CureVac.
"Accessing CureVac’s innovative mRNA technology may allow Sanofi Pasteur to exploit a platform that can be more broadly applicable across indications to develop vaccines, as the RNActive technology is expected to complement conventional technologies," Burdin said.
The license deal is also a result of the positive and still ongoing four-year $33.1m research collaboration of CureVac with Sanofi Pasteur and In-Cell-Art, co-funded by the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), as announced in November 2011.