The vaccine aims to address various strains of Covid-19

GSK’s share price rose by 0.75% at opening on Monday upon news that the company would be developing a vaccine. 

GSK and CureVac, the German pharmaceutical company, have joined forces to develop the next generation of mRNA Covid-19 vaccines.

The company is targeting availability in 2022, subject to regulatory approval, with development to begin immediately. 

The €150m collaboration could lead to a vaccine with a multi-valent approach, which would be able to target multiple emerging variants. 

New variants of Covid-19 have emerged in Brazil, South Africa and the UK, as the world continues its fight against the infectious disease.

Emma Walmsley, chief executive officer of GSK, believes the vaccine that will be developed by this research project could play a leading role in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic. 

“We believe that next generation vaccines will be crucial in the continued fight against COVID-19. This new collaboration builds on our existing relationship with CureVac and means that together, we will combine our scientific expertise in mRNA and vaccine development to advance and accelerate the development of new COVID-19 vaccine candidates,” Walmsley said.

GSK will also support CureVac’s efforts to manufacture up to 100 million doses of the vaccine candidate CVnCoV IN 2021. 

Franz-Werner Haas, chief executive officer of CureVac, welcomed GSK’s expertise.

“We are very pleased to build on our existing relationship with GSK with a new agreement to jointly develop next generation mRNA-based vaccines, in addition to our current candidate CVnCoV. With the help of GSK’s proven vaccine expertise, we are equipping ourselves to tackle future health challenges with novel vaccines,” Haas said.

GSK bought a 10% stake in CureVac in 2020, in a bid to fight coronavirus and other future outbreaks.