CureVac Sets Up Shop in Cambridge, Mass. to Expand mRNA Therapies
September 10, 2015
By Alex Keown, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Germany-based CureVac, a biopharmaceutical company developing mRNA-based therapies, established its physical foothold in the United States with the opening of a new office in the ever-expanding biotech hub of the greater Boston area.
“Expansion into the U.S. is an important step in CureVac's corporate and clinical growth as it will enable us to capitalize on the numerous research and business opportunities related to our industry-leading mRNA technology platform. As such, our U.S. office will provide an important base for CureVac to extend our U.S. interest, while enhancing our development capabilities, particularly those targeting mRNA-based prophylactic vaccines,” Ingmar Hoerr, chief executive officer of CureVac said in a statement.
CureVac said the move will allow it to advance the development of its proprietary mRNA platform technology and multiple, clinical-stage mRNA therapeutics and vaccines. The company’s technology uses chemically unmodified mRNA to develop a broad range of therapeutic candidates in cancer immuno-therapies and prophylactic vaccines as well as molecular therapy, including an ongoing Phase IIb study for prostate cancer treatment.
CureVac has also partnered with the non-profit International AIDS Vaccine Initiative to accelerate the development of AIDS vaccines, utilizing novel immunogens developed by IAVI and partners, delivered via CureVac's novel mRNA technology.
Earlier this year CureVac received $53 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in support of its mRNA research and another $24 million from longstanding investor dievini Hopp BioTech.
CureVac’s U.S. offices will be helmed by Karen Slobod, former Head of the Maternal Immunization Franchise at Novartis Vaccines. Using the Gates’ financing, the U.S. offices will focus on programs targeting Rotavirus, RSV, HIV and influenza.
CureVac is not the only Germany-based company to establish its U.S. toehold in the Boston area. In June Germany-based Sirion Biotech GmbH joined the ever-expanding Boston biotech party. Sirion said it was drawn to the Boston area specifically for “viral vectors,” a gene therapy science that enables the replacement of disease-causing genes with healthy genes. Gene therapy uses genes to treat or prevent disease. In the future, this technique may allow doctors to treat a disorder by inserting a gene into a patient's cells instead of using drugs or surgery.
The greater Boston area, including Cambridge, has been the booming biotech hub on the east coast, with more and more companies announcing a complete move to the area, or opening of satellite offices to collaborate with other pharmaceutical companies or research universities and institutes. One of the reasons for the greater Boston area becoming such a major hub in the biotech and pharmaceutical industries is the plethora of research universities in the area. Boston also has one of the highest educated workforces in the nation. Not only are smaller companies calling the Boston area home, but many larger and established pharmaceutical companies, such as Pfizer Inc. , GlaxoSmithKline , Takeda Pharmaceuticals , Sanofi , Biogen Idec, Inc. and Novartis AG have presences in the city. The close proximity of so many pharmaceutical and university laboratories provides researchers and scientists easy access to clinical studies and building partnerships between companies.
“It is much easier to have collaborative relationships when you can visit each other’s labs and have face to face meetings easily,” Ann Taylor, Novartis Global Head of the Program Office, told BioSpace last summer.
According to the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council, which makes its home in Cambridge, Mass., the heart of the state’s biotech industry, the biotech and pharmaceutical presence in the state grew by 41 percent between 2004 and 2013. Across the state the industry employed 57,642 in 2013, the most recent year with complete data.
Recent growth in the Boston area includes IBM Corporation ’s new health unit, which will employ 2,000, as well as GlaxoSmithKline ’s new innovation center in Boston.
There are a number of sites in the area being marketed to smaller biotech firms, including 340,000 square foot facility that formerly hosted Vertex Pharmaceuticals . The area, which includes three buildings, will be rebranded as Sidney Research Campus by BioMed Realty Trust, which owns the buildings. Vertex vacated the space in 2013 when it moved a few miles into Boston.