CSL Limited’s partnership with Arcturus Therapeutics Holdings, Inc. for Arcturus’s self-amplifying messenger RNA (mRNA) platform provides CSL with an important platform technology for developing vaccines against infectious diseases. It has also revived uncertainties around Arcturus’s COVID-19 vaccine, particularly its commercial viability.
CSL Limited subsidiary CSL Seqirus and Arcturus announced the deal on 1 November, and it includes an upfront payment of $200m and potential development and commercial milestones of more than $4bn, along with 40% profit sharing for COVID-19 vaccines and royalties up to double digits for influenza, pandemic preparedness and three additional respiratory infectious disease vaccines