CureVac, a biotechnology company in Germany involved in the development of a coronavirus vaccine, is probably enjoying the time of its life now. The company which is backed by Microsoft founder Bill Gates has seen its value grow by a whopping 431% since its Initial Public Offering. The German firm raised money through an IPO for the first time on Friday last week at a rate of $16 a share.
As a result, CureVac was able to get up to $231 million in initial funding. But ever since its IPO debut, the share price has been on the up and up. At the time of writing this post, the price of a single share had more than tripled, hitting $55.90. The surge also continued over the last few days. It even hit an all-time high of $85 per share.
According to regulatory documents filed by the biotechnology company, the new funding is expected to go towards research and development. CureVac is also hoping to use some of the money to expand its manufacturing capabilities as it gets ready for the mass market production of a coronavirus vaccine. There will also be additional investment in clinical trials for its vaccine which is now in its final third phase.
So far, all trials have been very promising. CureVac is confident that the final vaccine will be ready by the fourth quarter of the year. Despite this, the firm isn’t just a coronavirus vaccine developer. It is also working on several other medical projects including developing cures for rabies and other infectious diseases. We also know that the biotech firm is developing medications for tumors, cancers, and other diseases.
In some of its regulatory filings, CureVac says that its vision is to “revolutionize medicine and open new avenues for developing therapies” that enable the body to cure itself. It’s not clear how that will work exactly but with all that funding, the company now has the money it needs to pursue these objectives. Despite this, we must also not underestimate the impact that coronavirus has had in bringing CureVac to the limelight.
Before the COVID-19 crisis, the biotech firm was just like any other. But when it started to develop the coronavirus vaccine, all eyes focused on it. The great news is that CureVac has done pretty well in the project. It’s in fact one of the very few companies so far that have developed promising vaccines at a rapid pace.
The backing of Bill Gates is also a huge advantage. The Microsoft founder was among the first few people to warn the world about an impending viral pandemic. He has also been very outspoken about the global coronavirus response, appearing in major news networks around the planet.
If indeed CureVac will have a coronavirus vaccine ready this year, then it will be a remarkable triumph of science and ingenuity. It will also mean that the German company will be one of the hottest stocks in the market.
