GSK buys 10% stake of German biotech firm CureVac in $164-million deal

GSK will buy a 10 per cent stake in German biotech firm CureVac for £130 million ($163.67 million), the two firms said on Monday. This deal bets on new technologies already being used in potential Covid-19 vaccines.

GSK and CureVac, backed by Bill Gates, will work on developing up to five so-called mRNA-based vaccines and monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) for infectious diseases, they said. The deal points to a valuation of more than $1.6 billion for CureVac as it prepares for a stock market launch this year.

For GSK, the world’s biggest vaccine maker, it adds to the company’s raft of investments in technologies that may fight future outbreaks. mRNA vaccines use ribonucleic acid (RNA), a chemical messenger that evokes an immune response when injected by instructing cells to make proteins that mimic pathogens.

The approach, also being deployed in experimental covid vaccines by BioNTech and partner Pfizer and Moderna , is yet to be approved in any therapy. “CureVac’s experience complements our own expertise,” said Roger Connor, President of GSK Vaccines.

After a ^300 million ($343.77 million) investment by the German government CureVac had planned to list on Nasdaq this month, a document seen by Reuters in June showed.