* Trials showed 47% efficacy for original vaccine
* Move means vaccine supply deal with EU ends
* CureVac shares sink almost 14% on news
(Adds details)
BERLIN, Oct 12 (Reuters) - CureVac will withdraw
its first-generation COVID-19 vaccine candidate and focus on
collaborating with GSK to develop second-generation mRNA
vaccine technology instead, the Germany-based biotechnology
company said on Tuesday.
The company's shares plunged almost 14% in afternoon
trading, hitting their lowest since listing last August.
CureVac said it would abandon its application for regulatory
approval from the European Medicines Agency for its
first-generation vaccine candidate CVnCoV after late-stage
trials delivered disappointing results in June with 47%
efficacy.
There would be a potential overlap with approval timelines
for a second-generation candidate.
The earliest potential approval of CVnCoV would have come in
the second quarter of 2022 when candidates from the
second-generation vaccine program were expected to progress to
late-stage clinical development by that time, CureVac said.
As a result, the advance purchase agreement the German firm
signed to sell shots to the European Union will end, it said.
It said it expected to start human trials for its
second-generation shot in coming months, aiming for regulatory
approval in 2022. Results from early-stage animal trials have
shown the strong potential of the shot compared with the
original, it said.
The German firm cancelled contract manufacturing deals last
month for CVnCoV with two prospective partners.
The shot is the latest casualty in the drug industry's race
to develop a vaccine against the virus, which has killed more
than 5 million people and infected more than 238 million.
Sanofi also dropped plans for its own mRNA-based
COVID-19 vaccine last month because of the dominance achieved by
BioNTech-Pfizer and Moderna in using the technology.
Instead, it would pursue the technology, acquired as part of
its takeover of Translate Bio, in potential vaccines
against influenza and other diseases.
(Reporting by Zuzanna Szymanska and Josephine Mason; Editing by
Louise Heavens and Edmund Blair)