CureVac N.V. (Nasdaq:CVAC) and its partner GSK (NYSE:GSK) have launched a Phase 1 dose-escalation study to test the performance of CV2CoV, a COVID-19 vaccine candidate based on CureVac’s second-generation mRNA backbone.
In late morning trading, CureVac’s stock ticked up 0.10% to $19.22.
CVAC shares were trading above $100 before announcing in mid-June 2021 that the interim vaccine efficacy of its first mRNA COVID-19 vaccine candidate was 47% in a Phase 2b/3 study.
Tübingen, Germany–based CureVac believes that its second-generation mRNA could prove to be broadly efficacious against SARS-CoV-2 variants and other pathogens.
Nature published a preclinical study involving cynomolgus macaques last year, indicating that the immunogenicity of CV2CoV was superior to its first-generation vaccine candidate, CVnCoV. The paper concluded that CV2CoV was “comparably immunogenic to the BNT162b2 (Pfizer) vaccine in macaques.”
The dose of the CV2CoV vaccine…