Baker McKenzie advised CureVac N.V. (Nasdaq: CVAC) ("CureVac"), a global biopharmaceutical company developing transformative medicines based on messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA), on restructuring its existing collaboration with GSK plc (LSE/NYSE: GSK) ("GSK") into a new licensing agreement, allowing each company to prioritize investment and focus on their respective mRNA development activities.
Under the terms of the new agreement, GSK acquires full rights to develop, manufacture and globally commercialize mRNA candidate vaccines for influenza and COVID-19, including combinations. In return, CureVac receives EUR 400 million upfront and up to an additional EUR 1.05 billion in development, regulatory and sales milestone payments as well as tiered royalties. The new agreement replaces all previous financial considerations from the previous collaboration agreement between the two companies.
Completion of the new agreement remains subject to certain antitrust and regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions.
CureVac is a pioneering multinational biotech company that was founded in 2000 to advance the field of mRNA technology for application in human medicine. Headquartered in Tübingen, Germany, CureVac also operates sites in the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland and the US.
GSK is a global biopharmaceutical company with a purpose to unite science, technology and talent to get ahead of disease.
Baker McKenzie advised CureVac on all relevant law matters.
The Baker McKenzie team was led by Julia Schieber (partner, healthcare and life sciences, Zurich) and consisted of:
Healthcare and life sciences:
Thilo Räpple (partner, Frankfurt), Nadine Charrière (associate, Zurich)
Antitrust & competition:
Jan Kresken (partner, Düsseldorf), Florian Kotman (associate, Düsseldorf)
Corporate:
Rebecca Kuijpers-Zimmermann (partner, Amsterdam), Florian Kästle (partner, Munich), Oliver Feslier Holmes (associate, London), George Ewen (associate, London)
IP Tech:
Patrick Wilkening (partner, Düsseldorf), Moritz Sutterer (associate, Düsseldorf)
Tax:
Christian Port (partner, Frankfurt).
CureVac inhouse Legal & Compliance team: Dr. Marco Rau (General Counsel, SVP L&C), Magdalena Thole (Senior Corporate Counsel, Pharma/Commercial), Dr. Robert Müller (Corporate Counsel, Corporate/Tax).
CureVac inhouse IP team: Marcus Dalton (Head of IP, VP), Dr. Anita Buck (Senior Director IP)