CureVac says COVID vaccine produced immune response in early-stage trial

CureVac NV

06/01/2023 13:49

Jan 6 (Reuters) - Germany's CureVac AG  CVAC.O  said on
Friday its second-generation COVID-19 vaccine produced
virus-neutralizing antibodies against the BA.1 subvariant of
Omicron, based on preliminary data from an early-stage trial. 
    The vaccine maker's U.S.-listed shares jumped 11% to $7.08
in premarket trading. 
    CureVac is developing the vaccine with Britain's GSK  GSK.L 
and the companies are looking to catch-up to similar vaccine
development by rivals. 
    The company said the vaccine was shown to be generally well
tolerated in the trial. Younger adults showed the presence of
neutralizing antibodies beginning at the lowest tested dose,
data showed. 
    CureVac gave up on its first-generation vaccine candidate,
CVnCoV, in 2021 after poor data.
    "With this foundation, CureVac will turn the page and enter
2023 as a competitive player in the development of mRNA
therapies," Chief Executive Franz-Werner Haas said. 
    The company also said its flu vaccine, which also uses mRNA
technology, successfully boosted antibody levels against flu and
was well-tolerated in an early-stage study.   
 (Reporting by Pratik Jain in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur)
 ((Pratik.Jain@thomsonreuters.com;))