Investing.com – CureVac stock (NASDAQ:) plunged 15% in Tuesday’s premarket trading to its lowest since the start of the pandemic, as the company dumped its candidate Covid-19 vaccine to focus on the development of second-generation mRNA vaccine candidates in collaboration with GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE:).

According to the company, CVnCoV is being withdrawn from the European Medicines Agency’s current approval process. This decision was made because it felt too late to launch a first-generation drug on the market. As a result, the company’s advanced purchase agreement with the European Commission will also cease.

CureVac claims that the EMA will approve the first possible approval for the vaccine in the second quarter 2022. According to CureVac, candidates for the second-generation vaccine program will have reached late stage clinical development by this point.

GSK and CureVac aim to obtain regulatory approval in order for a better Covid-19 vaccine to be available on the market by 2022. These companies plan to increase their efforts in developing modified mRNA vaccine constructs.

CureVac’s decision comes as worries over adequate vaccine supplies are on the wane globally, especially in the developed world.