CureVac collaborates with Janssen on development of influenza vaccine based on mRNA

CureVac, a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company that has pioneered the development of a new class of therapies and vaccines based on messenger RNA (mRNA), today announced that it has entered into a collaboration and licensing agreement with Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Under the agreement CureVac will collaborate with Crucell Holland B.V. (a member of the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies) on the development of an influenza vaccine based on CureVac's RNActive^® technology.

RNActive^® vaccines, based on CureVac's technology platform, have already demonstrated effectiveness and safety in several clinical trials. CureVac's preclinical influenza studies, which were published in Nature Biotechnology in December 2012, have formed an important basis for this collaboration.

Under the terms of the collaboration, CureVac will develop optimized RNActive^® vaccines based on Crucell's proprietary antigen sequences which will be tested in various models.