Britain's GlaxoSmithKline and German biotech firm CureVac have said their jointly developed mRNA Covid-19 vaccine candidate showed improved immune response and protection against the virus in a preclinical animal study, according to Reuters.

Higher antibody neutralising capacity was seen with the vaccine, CV2CoV, across variants including the Delta, Beta and Lambda, the companies said.

The vaccine that was tested in non-human primates showed “strongly” improved immune responses compared to CureVac's first vaccine, which recorded only 48 per cent efficacy in a final trial readout.

GSK and CureVac teamed up in February in a 150 million euro ($177m) deal to develop a next-generation Covid-19 vaccine from next year that could target several variants with one shot.