CureVac, a pioneer in the effort to use messenger RNA as a vaccine platform, and its partner, pharmaceutical giant GSK, saw the writing on the wall last fall.
When CureVac’s Covid-19 mRNA vaccine candidate underwhelmed in a Phase 2b/3 trial, the pair shifted plans. Too many other vaccines had already proven superior and been cleared by regulators. Rather than spend months tweaking a candidate that would end up battling for a rapidly shrinking share of the Covid vaccine market, they would focus instead on a second-generation product.