Yahoo Finance CureVac (CVAC) Up on Deal With Bayer for COVID-19 Vaccine
Shares of Germany-based biopharmaceutical company, CureVac N.V. CVAC gained 16.51% after it announced a collaboration and services agreement with pharma giant, Bayer BAYRY.
CureVac aims to benefit from Bayer´s expertise and established infrastructure for its COVID-19 vaccine through this deal.
Per the agreement, Bayer will support CureVac for further development, supply and key territory operations of the latter’s COVID-19 vaccine candidate, CVnCoV. Bayer will lend its arm in areas such as clinical operations, regulatory affairs, pharmacovigilance, medical information, supply-chain performance and support in selected countries.
While CureVac will be the Marketing Authorization Holder for the product, Bayer will support it with country operations within the European Union (EU) and selected additional markets. Bayer also has the option to become the Marketing Authorization Holder in other markets outside of Europe.
The rationale of the deal is to facilitate CureVac to be in a position to supply hundreds of millions of CVnCoV doses around the world, once it obtains approvals.
The company is currently expanding its partner network for the development, production and distribution of its vaccine candidate.
Earlier, in November 2020, CureVac announced that it would ramp up its European manufacturing network, working with Wacker and Fareva, among others.
We note that last month, the company enrolled the first participant in the pivotal phase IIb/III study of its mRNA vaccine candidate, CVnCoV, against COVID-19. The randomized, observer-blind, placebo-controlled, HERALD study will assess the safety and efficacy of the candidate in adults at a dose of 12 µg. The study is expected to include more than 35,000 participants at sites in Europe and Latin America.
CureVac’s stock has surged 81.1% since it started trading compared with the industry’s growth of 7.3%.
Pharma/biotech companies are running a race against time and currently evaluating every possible weapon in their arsenal to combat this outbreak. Any positive update in this regard has led to a surge in the share price of the respective company.
Given the alarming levels of spread and an urgent need for a vaccine, the FDA granted emergency use authorization (EUA) to Pfizer PFE/BioNTech’s BNTX mRNA-based vaccine, BNT162b2, against COVID-19 in individuals 16 years of age or older. The agency has also granted EUA to Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine, mRNA-1273, in individuals 18 years of age or older.
CureVac currently carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).
You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
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