The manager comes from Sanofi.
(Photo: imago images/Eibner)
Frankfurt The Tübingen-based biotech company Curevac intends to further advance the realignment of its research by starting additional clinical studies. The new CEO Alexander Zehnder made this clear on Tuesday when presenting the business figures for 2022.
At the beginning of April, the former Sanofi manager took over the management of the Tübingen mRNA specialist, who had failed at the first attempt with his Covid vaccine and had to leave the field to competitors Biontech and Moderna.
In cooperation with the British pharmaceutical giant GSK, Curevac has since started a new attempt with mRNA vaccines based on a new, modified structure. According to Curevac, two out of four tested product candidates against Covid and flu showed a good effect in the first clinical tests according to preliminary data and should therefore be further promoted.
“With these important successes, we have reached a turning point,” explained Zehnder in his first public appearance for the company. “Further successes will depend on us implementing later phases of clinical developments with prophylactic vaccines and initial clinical developments in oncology with great discipline this year,” says Zehnder. As the new CEO of Curevac, he sees enormous potential in the company’s technology.
In the second quarter, Curevac wants to start a first clinical study to test the new mRNA framework in cancer therapy. However, the company has postponed the start of a second oncology study until 2024 in order to then use a new technology to identify molecular targets on tumor cells. Curevac has recently strengthened itself in this area by taking over smaller specialists in Belgium and the Netherlands. The company’s previous oncology projects based on an older mRNA construct had consistently failed.
Cash reserves last until 2025
In February, the Tübingen-based company prepared itself financially for its new research projects with a gross capital increase of USD 250 million (around EUR 225 million). Together with the funds of 496 million euros still available at the end of 2022, the company should currently have cash reserves totaling 650 to 700 million euros.
According to Curevac, the funding for the research is secured until mid-2025. Net cash burn was around 315 million euros last year, but was still partly impacted by settlement costs related to the failed Covid vaccine program.
A solid supply of venture capital is of great importance for the Tübingen-based company, since – unlike its competitors Biontech and Moderna – it has not had any cash inflows from its operating business to date. For the additional liquidity, however, the previous shareholders had to accept a considerable dilution in the most recent capital increase.
The 27 million new shares were issued at 9.25 dollars, while Curevac was able to place its shares at 16 euros per share at the IPO and at a capital increase in 2021 even at more than 90 euros per share.
The share held by the state-owned Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW) fell to around 13.5 percent as a result of the issue of the new shares. SAP founder Dietmar Hopp should still hold around 37 percent of the capital.
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