CureVac, a German-based clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, has inked an agreement with Sanofi Pasteur, the vaccines division of Sanofi, to develop and commercialize an mRNA-based vaccine against an undisclosed pathogen.

In 2011, CureVac and Sanofi Pasteur signed a collaboration and license option agreement for several pre-defined pathogens. CureVac met all pre-agreed milestones and acceptance criteria relating to these agreements, and therefore Sanofi Pasteur exercised its first option and extended its exclusive and non-exclusive options on all five pathogens.

Sanofi Pasteur will fund all research, development, manufacturing and commercialization activities and will have exclusive worldwide marketing rights for the RNActive vaccine. CureVac will receive an undisclosed upfront payment from Sanofi Pasteur for the option exercise and an additional payment for extending the option term for the other pathogens.

In addition, CureVac is eligible for additional milestones of up to $205.6 million for achieving several clinical, regulatory and commercial milestones, as well as royalty payments on products sales of RNActive vaccines.

The agreement also is a result of the positive and still ongoing four-year $33.1 million research collaboration of CureVac with Sanofi Pasteur and In-Cell-Art, co-funded by the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and announced in November 2011.