About Us
CuraVac is a clinical-stage biotech company developing the medical and commercial potential of a revolutionary technique for the production of specific Therapeutic Vaccines for the treatment of autoimmune diseases.
The company was founded by a Belgian medical doctor, Dr. Stéphane Huberty, who at the time, suffered from myasthenia gravis. The original discoverer of the Vaccine production technique, Professor J. Edwin Blalock soon joined CuraVac as a consultant.
Present day
Following a Clinical Trial Authorization received in November 2015, 24 patients received three injections of the MG therapeutic vaccine in a phase 1B clinical trial that took place at the Antwerp University hospital (UZA) in Belgium. The preliminary results were communicated in May 2017 at the 13th International Conference on Myasthenia Gravis and Related Disorders at the New York Academy of Science.
The final results of phase 1B, communicated in June 2018, demonstrated an excellent safety profile and called for a phase 2 efficacy clinical trial.
CuraVac is presently preparing a phase 2 efficacy clinical trial with a more potent formulation of the MG Therapeutic Vaccine: CV-MG02.
This vaccine is the first in a series. It will be tested on humans suffering from myasthenia gravis (MG). While not a widely known orphan disease, MG affects more than one in five thousand and its pathology is clearly understood, making it an excellent development model.
Further, CuraVac’s Therapeutic Vaccines will be developed for the treatment of other autoimmune diseases, including multiple sclerosis, diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis and systemic lupus erythematosus.
In total, autoimmune diseases afflict more than five percent of western population.
Our story
- In 2002, the company was created and acquired the complementary peptide patent. The company raised funds and got organized as a management company in the center of an expertise and competence network of collaborations and sub-contracting companies.
- In 2006, the key article showing that the MG vaccine works not only in the lab on rat models but also on naturally occurring myasthenia gravis in pet dogs is published and the MG vaccine patent is filed.
In 2007, Nicolas Havelange joined CuraVac and together, he and Dr. Huberty have taken this vaccine production technique out of the lab to bring it to patients.
- In 2009, the human formulation of the MG vaccine is manufactured following GLP and GMP guidelines.
The myasthenia gravis Therapeutic Vaccine, our first vaccine, was granted Orphan Drug Designation in Europe by a team of independent experts of the 27 European member states.
- In 2011, the MG therapeutic vaccine was granted Orphan Drug Designation in the USA by the FDA
In 2013, following a call for proposals that was answered by all the best medicine projects in the world, CuraVac’s project for a MG therapeutic vaccine was one of the 7 therapeutic vaccine projects that were selected by an Independent Jury Committee of the best world experts.
CuraVac then created a European consortium of four companies and one University Medical Center that received the support of the FP7 2013 Health Innovation to conduct clinical trials of the MG therapeutic vaccine: MYASTERIX.
The final results of phase 1B, communicated in June 2018, demonstrated an excellent safety profile, and called for a phase 2 efficacy clinical trial with a more potent formulation of the MG Therapeutic Vaccine: CV-MG02.
Foundation
CuraVac was founded in 2002 by Dr. Stéphane Huberty, a Belgian medical doctor who suffered from Myasthenia Gravis. Soon after, the company acquired the complementary peptide patent, raised funds and got organized as a management company at the center of a network of collaborations and sub-contracting companies. The original discoverer of the vaccine production technique, Professor J. Edwin Blalock also joined CuraVac as a consultant.
