GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) announced Wednesday (July 3) that it was restructuring its partnership with German biotech company CureVac, including taking control over several of the vaccines both firms were jointly developing, including vaccines for COVID-19 and influenza. 

Reuters reported that GSK would initially pay CureVac EUR 400 million ($429.44 million) and an additional EUR 1.05 billion ($1.13 billion) in development, regulatory, sales milestones, and tiered royalties. 

GSK-CureVac COVID Collaboration

It is understood that the partnership between GSK and CureVac began in 2002 during the COVID-19 pandemic to develop vaccines for infectious diseases using messenger RNA (mRNA) technology, a discovery that has since been awarded a Nobel Prize due to it being an innovation in the drug-making industry.

Wednesday's agreement reflected on GSK CEO Emma Walmsley's focus on vaccines and infectious diseases as a strategy to prevent patent expiries and declining revenue from frequently sold medicines by the end of the decade. 

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CureVac Restructuring Operations, Cutting Jobs

For its part, CureVac has been actively selling its major vaccine development projects, including GSK's upfront payment, to secure its cash position and redirect its operations to new cancer treatments. 

The company also announced in April that it was letting go of some of its workers after it failed to develop an mRNA-based COVID vaccine during the pandemic. 

Meanwhile, GSK would take the lead in further developing an mRNA-based vaccine for flu and another for COVID-19 that are in phase 2 trials, as well as a bird flu shot currently in the early stages. 

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