A&O Shearman has advised GSK on its licensing arrangements for influenza/COVID mRNA vaccines

The A&O Shearman team has advised GSK on its collaboration with CureVac since 2020, when GSK and CureVac first worked to develop mRNA vaccines in infectious diseases.  Through this collaboration, GSK and CureVac currently have vaccine candidates for seasonal influenza and COVID-19 in phase 2 development, and avian influenza in phase 1 development.

The A&O Shearman team was led by IP partner Nigel Parker and IP senior associate Megan McMellon. The GSK legal team was led by General Counsel & SVP, R&D, Global Commercial Strategy, Business/Corporate Dev and Corporate Legal Amy Altshul, with support of Ben Millson, Susan Chiappinelli and Sophie Racine.

Nigel Parker said: “This transaction was a great example of our ability to deliver a multi-jurisdictional, sector-focused team, involving specialists across the UK, Belgium and Germany.  It was a privilege to support the GSK team.”

Amy Altshul said: “The GSK and A&O Shearman teams worked seamlessly together to bring this important transaction to a successful conclusion.”

GSK will assume full control for development and manufacture of, and will have worldwide rights to commercialise, these candidate vaccines.  This represents the latest step in GSK’s ongoing investment in vaccine platform technologies, matching the best platform to each pathogen to develop best in class vaccines.

CureVac will receive an upfront payment of EUR400 million and additional payments in development, regulatory and sales-related milestone payments, including tiered royalties.  Completion remains subject to certain antitrust and regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions.

This is the latest transaction in A&O Shearman’s ongoing working relationship with GSK, having advised GSK for several years on a wide range of strategic transactions, strengthening its position as a leader in the global biopharma industry.

The A&O Shearman team included IP partners Mark Ridgway, Gemma Barrett, Rafi Allos, Jens Matthes and Peter Van Dyck, as well as a broader team including Harriet Ravenscroft, David Winters, Stephen Beckett, Tine Carmeliet, Fabienne Marshall and Bella Gropper.