Funding
CureVac GmbH, a specialist in applying mRNA to cancer vaccines, has announced the closing of a €27.6 million financing round with its major shareholder, dievini Hopp BioTech holding GmbH & Co. KG.
The proceeds will enable further clinical development of RNActive therapeutic vaccines against solid tumours and accelerate preclinical and clinical development of prophylactic vaccines against infectious diseases.
Currently, CureVac’s lead product CV9103, for treating prostate cancer, is in a Phase IIa trial, with results expected in the second half of 2010. In a separate Phase I study, the company is developing CV9201, an mRNA vaccine compound to treat non-small cell lung cancer.
“Since its foundation, CureVac, a spin-off from Tübingen University, has raised a total of €65 million. This significant funding shows clearly the faith and confidence of our main investor, dievini Hopp,” said Ingmar Hoerr, CEO of CureVac. “The proceeds from this financing round will allow us to further develop our mRNA immunotherapeutics for the treatment of prostate cancer and lung cancer. Furthermore, the funds will enable us to speed up the development of our very promising prophylactic vaccine platform against infectious diseases as well as to further develop our novel RNA-based adjuvants.”
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