CureVac’s Public Market Journey Concludes Following BioNTech Acquisition

The corporate entity known as CureVac has ceased to be a publicly traded company. In January 2026, the Tübingen-based mRNA specialist finalized its integration into BioNTech, marking the end of its independent stock market listing. This move sees one of Europe's most notable pioneers in messenger RNA technology absorbed by its larger rival and removed from the public capital markets.

The merger represents a significant consolidation within the mRNA sector, uniting two of Germany's most established firms under a single corporate umbrella. Both BioNTech and CureVac originated in the early 2000s, developing their respective mRNA platforms independently. The combination now centralizes a broad portfolio of patents and manufacturing capabilities. This integration effectively narrows the Western mRNA competitive landscape to a contest primarily between BioNTech and its American counterpart, Moderna.

Final Steps of the Takeover

BioNTech completed the final acquisition phase on January 6, 2026. This followed an initial acceptance period that concluded on December 18, 2025, during which approximately 195.3 million CureVac shares were tendered by investors. These shares, representing 86.75% of the total, were voluntarily exchanged. The remaining minority shareholders were subsequently compelled to divest their holdings through a squeeze-out procedure as part of the corporate reorganization, which merged CureVac into the BioNTech subsidiary CureVac Merger B.V.

Trading of CureVac shares on the Nasdaq was halted at the company's request on January 6. The formal delisting from the exchange was executed ten days later, on January 16. CureVac has also applied for deregistration of its securities, a process that will become final 90 days after the submission of the request.

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Leadership and Strategic Rationale

A complete leadership transition has accompanied the structural change. The former executive board of CureVac voluntarily resigned from their positions. BioNTech founder Ugur Sahin has assumed the role of Managing Director at the CureVac SE legal entity, alongside Sierk Poetting and Ramón Zapata-Gomez.

BioNTech has stated that the acquisition strengthens its overarching mRNA technology platform. The company intends for CureVac's proprietary technology to complement its existing expertise in areas including drug design, formulation, and production. Decisions regarding the future strategic focus and portfolio alignment of the combined assets are still pending.

For former CureVac investors who participated in the share exchange, their investment is now represented by BioNTech American Depositary Receipts (ADRs). CureVac's oncology research pipeline has been transferred into BioNTech's development portfolio.