Hot on the heels of Dendreon's big victory at the FDA with the world's first therapeutic cancer vaccine, Germany's CureVac announced a $35 million round that is designed to accelerate work on its mRNA prostate cancer vaccine, now in mid-stage trials.
The Tübingen University spinoff's lead therapeutic vaccine--the messenger RNA therapy CV9103--is currently in Phase IIa for prostate cancer, with data expected in the second half of this year. A separate mRNA vaccine for non-small cell lung cancer is in Phase I. CureVac also has a platform for developing prophylactic vaccines against infectious diseases as well as RNA-based adjuvants.
"Based on its unique mRNA-based RNActive technology and on all the data, knowledge and patents generated so far, we think that CureVac is in a strong position to become an important player in future immunotherapy," said Friedrich von Bohlen, managing partner of dievini Hopp Biotech Holding, the main investor in the developer, which has raised $83 million to date.
- check out CureVac's press release