Aug 16 (Reuters) - Britain’s GlaxoSmithKline and German biotech firm CureVac said on Monday their jointly developed mRNA COVID-19 vaccine candidate showed improved immune response and protection against the virus in a preclinical animal study. Higher antibody neutralizing 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% efficacy in a final trial readout. U.S.-listed shares of CureVac, which also reported its quarterly financial results on Monday, were up 9.5% in premarket trading. The “second-generation” vaccine with GSK is CureVac’s attempt to develop a vaccine that works against coronavirus variants after disappointing clinical trial results for the mRNA shot it developed on its own. GSK and CureVac teamed up in February in a 150 million euro ($177 million) deal to develop a next-generation COVID-19 vaccine from next year that could target several variants with one shot. ($1 = 0.8496 euros) (Reporting by Yadarisa Shabong in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel) Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.