• Granted patents cover CureVac’s oncological pipeline regarding intratumoral treatment

TÜBINGEN, Germany / BOSTON, MA, USA – June 13, 2019

CureVac AG, a fully integrated biopharmaceutical company pioneering the field of mRNA-based drugs, announced that it received a patent grant from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and two patent grants from the European Patent Office for the intratumoral administration of RNA. These patents strengthen CureVac’s industry-leading position in the oncology space as the intratumoral application of RNA – particularly mRNA-encoded therapeutics – gains traction in treating selected cancers.

The U.S. patent (US10,293,058) and the first European patent (EP3326641) cover intratumoral administration of non-coding, immunostimulating RNA for the treatment of cancer patients receiving anti-PD-1 or anti-PD-L1 checkpoint inhibitors, such as pembrolizumab or nivolumab. These patents guarantee protection for CureVac’s intratumoral clinical product candidate, CV8102, in the U.S. and Europe through 2036.

The second European patent (EP3173092) covers the intratumoral application of IL-12-encoded mRNA to patients who also receive a PD-1 pathway inhibitor or a CTLA-4 inhibitor. IL-12 qualifies as one of the most promising cytokines for cancer immunotherapy due to its multiple anti-cancer activities.

CureVac is currently focused on the development of two candidates for the intratumoral treatment of selected cancers. CV8102, currently in a Phase I clinical trial, uses non-coding, immunostimulating RNA to activate the TLR 7/8 and RIG I pathways for developing an anticancer immune response. A second candidate, currently in preclinical development, will comprise mRNA-encoding proteins such as IL-12 that will be expressed in the tumor tissue to induce anticancer immunity.

These patents strengthen CureVac’s broad IP portfolio which is among the most comprehensive in the industry, with more than 110 patent families, over 1,100 patent family members and more than 200 granted patents.