German government-owned development bank KfW agreed yesterday to invest €300m ($339m) in CureVac, the Germany-based RNA therapy developer backed by pharmaceutical firm Eli Lilly.
CureVac is working on messenger RNA (mRNA)-based drugs but its technology could also influence development of a vaccine for Covid-19. It has two drug candidates in phase 1 clinical trials, each of which are targeted at forms of cancer.
The transaction will give KfW a stake sized at about 23% and it comes after the company agreed a $90m loan from the European Investment Bank in March this year, when it announced it would concentrate efforts on developing a coronavirus vaccine.
Franz-Werner Haas, CureVac’s chief operating officer and acting CEO, said: “This strong financial commitment provides us further cash reach and stability for the accelerated development of our mRNA platform, the development and production of our current and additional mRNA vaccine and drug candidates, as well as the strategic expansion of our organisation.”
The company received $22m in equity funding from biotech producer Genmab through a December 2019 strategic partnership deal. Eli Lilly invested $53.3m in CureVac in 2017 through a similar agreement.
CureVac had closed a $140m round featuring its largest shareholder, Dievini Hopp BioTech, the year before, taking its overall funding to about $360m.
LBBW Asset Management Investmentgesellshaft, Landeskreditbank Baden-Württemberg, Baillie Gifford, Chartwave, Coppel Family, Northview, Sigma Group and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation also took part in the 2016 round
DH Capital, OH Beteiligungen and Leonhardo Venture are also among CureVac’s investors, and its partners include Boehringer Ingelheim and Crispr Therapeutics. It was spun out of Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen in 2000.
