Curevac takes Sanofi manager Alexander Zehnder as boss – share increases

Curevac headquarters in Tübingen

After the flop with the vaccine, the company is realigning itself.

(Photo: imago images/ULMER press photo agency)

Frankfurt After an intensive search in recent weeks, the biotech company Curevac has now found a new CEO: As of April 1, the previous Sanofi manager Alexander Zehnder is to take over the management of the Tübingen mRNA specialist, as Curevac announced on Monday.

Zehnder will then replace the previous head of the company, Franz-Werner Haas, who will be stepping down after more than ten years on the board and three years as CEO. Haas’ contract was extended last year by a year until mid-2023. The Handelsblatt reported in December that Curevac was looking for a successor.

Investors rated the planned leadership change positively. The Curevac share, which had lost considerable value in the past few months, temporarily rose by up to 29 percent to 9.70 euros by Monday afternoon in Frankfurt.

Curevac shares still well below all-time high

On Friday it had already risen by a similar amount in response to positive test results. The titles are still around a third below the issue price of 2020 and a good 90 percent below the all-time high reached in 2021.

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With the replacement of the chief post by a manager from the pharmaceutical industry, the company is showing confidence that it can use its own technology base to build a new clinical pipeline. A failure in the development of an mRNA-based corona vaccine had raised doubts about this. In addition, all projects on cancer therapies had failed in recent years.

Zehnder is currently head of the oncology business unit at French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi and brings 20 years of experience in the industry. The doctor previously worked at Roche, among others.

Curevac Supervisory Board Chairman Jean Stéphenne places the appointment in direct connection with the ongoing realignment. Stéphenne stated that the recent validation of the power of the mRNA technology platform represents an important turning point. “I am convinced that Dr. Zehnder is the right person to take Curevac to the next level as a relevant company in the market,” he explained.

On Friday, Curevac presented the first preliminary data from early, so-called phase 1 studies with various new vaccine candidates against Covid-19 and flu, which the company is developing together with the British pharmaceutical giant GSK. According to the company, two products based on modified mRNA generated high levels of antibodies in the vaccinated people. Based on these results, the company now intends to further advance clinical development.

Technology panning at mRNA

Curevac sees the very early test results as confirmation that its own mRNA technology is suitable as a basis for a broader clinical study program. At the same time, the company is also changing its approach. It is now also based on modified mRNA and is moving away from the original concept of unmodified mRNA.

With modified mRNA, one of the nucleotide building blocks that make up RNA molecules is slightly altered. As a result, the mRNA is less well recognized by the immune system and there are fewer strong inflammatory reactions to the mRNA vaccines or drugs. This in turn allows higher dosages of the active ingredients.

Experts attribute the fact that Curevac failed in the first attempt with its Covid vaccine to the fact that the company was unable to dose its unmodified mRNA vaccine high enough. The competitors Moderna and Biontech, on the other hand, have been using modified mRNA for years and have achieved high levels of effectiveness and great economic success with their vaccines.

Compared to these two leading mRNA players, Curevac is now several years behind. The company intends to start phase 2 studies with the new vaccine candidates together with GSK in the course of the year. Even if it is successful, data relevant for approval from an even larger phase 3 study are unlikely to be in sight before the end of 2024.

Nevertheless, the Tübingen-based company sees the latest test results as confirmation that its own technology can play a role in the field of mRNA in the long term. “On this basis, Curevac will turn around and emerge as a competitive player in the development of mRNA therapies in 2023,” said the outgoing company boss Haas when the test results were presented.

More: After the Corona boom, the pharmaceutical industry is facing a dip in growth

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