Shingles vaccine maker Curevo lands $110M, adds biotech vets to board

Curevo, a Seattle-based biotech startup developing a vaccine against shingles, raised $110 million in a Series B round.

The fresh cash will help Curevo advance Phase 2 trials of amezosvatein, its shingles vaccine built from a non-living component of the virus and a proprietary adjuvant, a substance added to a shot to boost vaccine effectiveness.

Shingles is a painful condition caused by reactivation of the virus that causes chicken pox.

Curevo is taking on biotech giant GlaxoSmithKline, which sells Shingrix, its shingles vaccine approved in 2017.

Medicxi, a European biotech-focused firm, led the Series B round. Other backers include OrbiMed, HBM Healthcare Investments; Sanofi Ventures; RA Capital Management; Janus Henderson Investors; Adjuvant Capital; and founding investor GC Biopharma.

Curevo also announced Monday that Moncef Slaoui, a former longtime GlaxoSmithKline exec, has joined as board chair. Giovanni Mariggi, partner at Medixi, also joined the board, as well as Tal Zaks, former chief medical officer of Moderna and partner at OrbiMed. Zaks also previously worked at GlaxoSmithKline.

“Patients, doctors, and payors are very clear a new shingles vaccine like amezosvatein would be welcome in the global marketplace,” Mariggi said in a statement. “Amezosvatein’s activity and improved tolerability profile could allow it to be a significant product in the shingles vaccines market.”

Curevo previously raised $82 million in 2022.

Curevo was established in 2018 as a partnership GC Pharma; the Mogam Institute for Biomedical Research, a global non-profit research organization based in Seoul; and Seattle’s Infectious Disease Research Institute (IDRI), now the Access to Advanced Health Institute. GC Pharma has the capability of manufacturing vaccines at scale, and IDRI developed adjuvant technology.

Curevo CEO George Simeon previously worked in South Korea for SK Telecom’s healthcare division and as an executive with Johnson & Johnson.