CureVac bet paying off

Although the Hopp family's biotech investments have posted mixed results in recent years, the €80 million marker Hopp put down in 2012 on CureVac GmbH seems to be paying off. The cancer vaccine and infectious disease company met Hopp's first goal of parlaying proof-of-concept data into its first cancer vaccine partnership, with Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH.

On Sept. 18, CureVac granted Boehringer exclusive, worldwide rights to CV9202, an mRNA vaccine that is in Phase Ib testing to treat metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). CureVac received an upfront payment of €35 million ($45.3 million) and is eligible for up to €430 million ($556.4 million) in milestones, plus royalties...