* 150 mln eur deal to develop next-generation vaccines
* GSK to also help produce 100 mln doses of CureVac's
vaccine
* GSK has suffered setbacks in COVID-19 vaccine development
(Adds background on vaccine technology)
By Ludwig Burger
FRANKFURT, Feb 3 (Reuters) - Britain's GlaxoSmithKline
and German biotech firm CureVac have teamed up
in a 150 million euro ($180 million) deal to develop a COVID-19
vaccine from next year that could target several variants with
one shot.
New, more contagious mutations of COVID-19 have emerged in
Britain, South Africa and Brazil and while existing vaccines
appear to offer some protection against them, there are fears
further changes in the virus could evade current shots.
For GSK, the world's largest vaccine maker by sales, the
deal marks a fresh attempt to play a major role in fighting the
pandemic after a COVID-19 alliance with Sanofi ran
into delays and a collaboration with China's Clover
Biopharmaceuticals was ended.
GSK, which acquired a 10% stake in CureVac last year, will
also support the production of up to 100 million doses of
CureVac's first generation COVID-19 vaccine candidate in 2021,
the companies said in a joint statement on Wednesday.
A CureVac spokesman said that would firm up group's target
to produce up to 300 million doses this year.
Having started mass testing of its vaccine candidate in
Europe and Latin America in December, CureVac expects an initial
readout from that study in March or April.
CureVac is also collaborating with Bayer to speed
up development and production of that vaccine.
The German biotech firm is banking on messenger RNA, a
cutting-edge genetic technology that has allowed rivals BioNTech
and Moderna to lead the COVID-19 vaccine
development race.
GSK, while having done early research into mRNA vaccines
against various diseases, has so far focused its pandemic
response on a more traditional vaccine approach.
It has been providing adjuvants, which are efficacy boosting
ingredients, to developers of protein-based vaccines.
GSK, which is scheduled to release 2020 results at 1200 GMT,
will pay CureVac 75 million euros upfront, adding another 75
million if certain development milestones are achieved.
($1 = 0.8308 euros)
(Reporting by Ludwig Burger. Editing by Kirsti Knolle and Mark
Potter)