Friedrich Loeffler Institute

DGAP-News: CureVac and GSK's Bivalent Second-Generation mRNA Vaccine Candidate Shown to be Highly Effective Against SARS-CoV-2 Variants in Preclinical Study

Retrieved on: 
Thursday, April 21, 2022
Protein, Manuscript, Friedrich Loeffler Institute, COVID-19, Degenerative disease, RNA, GSK, CVAC, Infection, Technology, Virulence, Vaccine, Nasdaq, ACE2, Flow cytometry, Animal, Viral load, Wistar, RNA transfection, Omicron, BioRxiv, CureVac, Delta

The preclinical study, conducted in collaboration with the Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut, Germany, assessed the bivalent candidate in comparison to the corresponding monovalent candidates targeting either variant in a mouse model.

Key Points: 
  • The preclinical study, conducted in collaboration with the Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut, Germany, assessed the bivalent candidate in comparison to the corresponding monovalent candidates targeting either variant in a mouse model.
  • During exposure of the vaccinated animals to either the Beta or the Delta variant, the bivalent mRNA vaccine significantly reduced the viral load in the animals.
  • Notably, the bivalent Beta /Delta vaccine candidate induced two-fold higher virus neutralizing antibody titers against the Omicron variant than against the Delta variant in a rat model.
  • This collaboration was later extended to the development of second-generation COVID-19 vaccine candidates, and modified mRNA vaccine technologies.