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CureVac

CureVac

CureVac N.V. is a German biopharmaceutical company based in Tübingen, Germany.

History

In April 2016, CureVac entered a development and option agreement with Canadian biotechnology company Acuitas Therapeutics to jointly develop a product incorporating Acuitas' lipid nanoparticle (LNP) technology with CureVac's mRNA materials.[1][2] The encapsulated mRNA product described under the agreement was commissioned for use in in vitro and animal testing for pre-clinical trials of a vaccine candidate.

COVID-19

CureVac partnered with Acuitas Therapeutics and Imperial College London for their COVID-19 vaccine trials.[3][4] CureVac received up to USD $15.3 million for the development of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate, and up to USD $34 million for its Lassa fever vaccine.[5]

Organization

CureVac is a member of the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA).[6]

Name Position Notes
Ingmar Hoerr Co-Founder and Former Chief Executive Officer[7] -
Franz-Werner Haas Chief Executive Officer (former)[8] Sygnis Pharma, LION Bioscience, Sirona Dental Systems
Stefan Mueller Vice President Preclinical[9] Sandoz, Merck Serono, Merck, Knoll
Lidia Oostvogels Vice President Area Head Infectious Diseases (former)[10] Minervax, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), Boehringer Ingelheim
Lívia Palmerston Mendes Senior Scientist (former)[11] NanoVation Therapeutics
Ralf Clemens Scientific Advisory Board Chair[7:1] GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), Novartis, Takeda Pharmaceuticals, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Africa Research Excellence Fund (AREF)
Carol J. Baker Scientific Advisory Board member[7:2] Baylor College of Medicine (BCM), Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA), National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID)
Nina Bhardwaj Scientific Advisory Board member[7:3] Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI), Association of American Physicians (AAP), Cancer Immunology Research
Michel de Wilde Scientific Advisory Board member[7:4] COVID-19 Joint Biomanufacturing Subcommittee, Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), COVID-19 Vaccine Task Force
Karim Fizazi Scientific Advisory Board member[7:5] Institut Gustave Roussy, European Journal of Cancer
Dirk Jäger Scientific Advisory Board member[7:6] University Hospital Heidelberg, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ)
Christopher Karp Scientific Advisory Board member[7:7] Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Michael P. Manns Scientific Advisory Board member[7:8] Hannover Medical School (MHH)
Stanley Plotkin Scientific Advisory Board member[7:9] Wistar Institute, University of Pennsylvania, Johns Hopkins University
Jean-Paul Prieels Scientific Advisory Board member[7:10] DNAlytics, Vaximm, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK)
Hans-Georg Rammensee Scientific Advisory Board member[7:11] University of Tübingen
George Siber Scientific Advisory Board member[7:12] ClearPath Vaccines Company (CVC), Wyeth, MassBiologics, COVAXX
Daniel Speiser Scientific Advisory Board member[7:13] Ludwig Cancer Research
Xiao-Ning Xu Scientific Advisory Board member[7:14] Imperial College London, Novartis Vaccines & Diagnostics
Fred Zepp Scientific Advisory Board member[7:15] University Medical Center Mainz, German Society of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine (DGKJ), Standing Committee on Vaccination at the Robert Koch Institute (STIKO)
Gerd Zettlmeissl Scientific Advisory Board member[7:16] Hilleman Laboratories, Aeras Global TB Vaccine Foundation, Chiron Behring, Intercell

Investors

CureVac's investors include:

  1. Development and Option Agreement between CureVac AG and Acuitas Therapeutics Inc. (2016, April 29). Securities and Exchange Commission. http://archive.vn/2022.09.30-212813/https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1809122/000110465920086354/tm2016252d12_ex10-11.htm ↩︎

  2. Plieth, J., & Elmhirst, E. (2020, July 27). Curevac muddies the Moderna/Arbutus waters further. Evaluate Vantage. https://web.archive.org/web/20230322201623/https://www.evaluate.com/vantage/articles/news/patents-and-litigation/curevac-muddies-modernaarbutus-waters-further ↩︎

  3. Bianchini, E. (2020, November 10). Acuitas Therapeutics: The Canadian technology that the Pfizer and BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine “can’t work without.” Yahoo News. http://archive.today/2021.11.09-104248/https://ca.news.yahoo.com/covid19-vaccine-coronavirus-canada-acuitas-therapeutics-pfizer-biontech-211410040.html?guccounter=1 ↩︎

  4. Lowe, D. (2021, June 17). CureVac Comes Up Short. Science. https://web.archive.org/web/20230129053807/https://www.science.org/content/blog-post/curevac-comes-short ↩︎

  5. Our portfolio. CEPI. Retrieved October 21, 2022, from https://web.archive.org/web/20221021070613/https://cepi.net/research_dev/our-portfolio/ ↩︎

  6. Membership. European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Association. Retrieved July 1, 2022, from https://web.archive.org/web/20220701031757/https://www.efpia.eu/about-us/membership/ ↩︎

  7. Mielach, A., & Hunter, R. (2016, March 30). CureVac Appoints Leading Experts to its Scientific Advisory Board. CureVac. https://web.archive.org/web/20220707053225/https://www.curevac.com/en/curevac-appoints-leading-experts-to-its-scientific-advisory-board/ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎

  8. Schüller, T., & Fakih, S. (2020, August 4). CureVac Appoints Dr. Franz-Werner Haas as Chief Executive Officer and Dr. Igor Splawski as Chief Scientific Officer. CureVac. https://web.archive.org/web/20220707043115/https://www.curevac.com/en/curevac-appoints-dr-franz-werner-haas-as-chief-executive-officer-and-dr-igor-splawski-as-chief-scientific-officer/ ↩︎

  9. Schüller, T. (2019, February 3). CureVac Appoints Stefan Mueller, Ph.D., as Vice President Preclinical. CureVac. https://web.archive.org/web/20220707042527/https://www.curevac.com/en/curevac-appoints-stefan-mueller-ph-d-as-vice-president-preclinical/ ↩︎

  10. Lidia Oostvogels. LinkedIn. Retrieved April 25, 2025, from https://www.linkedin.com/in/lidia-oostvogels-9129075/ ↩︎

  11. Lívia Palmerston Mendes. LinkedIn. Retrieved April 25, 2025, from https://www.linkedin.com/in/liviapmendes/ ↩︎

  12. Portfolio - Page 2. Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Strategic Innovation Fund. Retrieved September 27, 2023, from https://web.archive.org/web/20230927091305/https://sif.gatesfoundation.org/portfolio/?fwp_paged=2&fwp_per_page=30 ↩︎

  13. Schwab, T. (2020, August 21). Journalism’s Gates keepers. Columbia Journalism Review. https://web.archive.org/web/20250426002435/https://www.cjr.org/criticism/gates-foundation-journalism-funding.php ↩︎