After the setback with the first corona vaccine CVnCoV, the Tübingen-based manufacturer CureVac caused optimism on the stock market with new data on its second-generation vaccine.

As the vaccine manufacturer announced on Monday, the vaccine candidate CV2CoV, which is being developed together with the British pharmaceutical company Glaxo-Smith-Kline, has shown a better immune response and protective effect in preclinical tests with monkeys.

Ilka Kopplin

Editor in business.

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In the investigation, according to the company, the vaccine also achieved a stronger antibody neutralization of selected virus variants.

including the delta version.

The first clinical study with volunteers is expected to start in the fourth quarter.

The share price on the American technology exchange Nasdaq rose around 10 percent before the market and was later still slightly in the plus.

Sales decrease, losses increase

For the vaccine manufacturer CureVac, in which the German state participated last year, this is good news after many setbacks.

For example, the mRNA vaccine CVnCoV, which CureVac developed on its own, was only 48 percent effective a few weeks ago.

The competitors BioNTech with Pfizer and Moderna, which also developed mRNA vaccines, were faster and had achieved significantly better protective effects.

CureVac CEO Franz-Werner Haas confirmed on Monday with the presentation of the quarterly figures, however, that he is aiming for approval from the European Medicines Agency for CVnCoV.

"Comprehensive clinical data" is currently being transmitted to the agency.

In the 18-60 age group, the vaccine has shown "a solid profile of efficacy," he said.

CureVac also announced some changes in the clinical development program of the first generation vaccine.

Accordingly, young people between the ages of 12 and 17 should now be included in a separate study, but no longer in an ongoing trial in Peru and Panama.

A study that, together with partner Bayer, would have examined the compatibility with the seasonal flu vaccination, is also being “redesigned”, it said.

In the first half of the year, CureVac posted an operating loss of around 264 million euros, mainly due to high research costs, after a minus of a good 26 million in the previous year.

Sales fell by 14 percent to around 32 million euros.