A Cambridge startup called Vaxxas that’s developing vaccines worn on the skin as patches just raised a $20 million Series B. The funding will be used to bring its Nanopatch platform to clinical trial, and to flesh out its pipeline of needle-free vaccines.
The Nanopatch works by riling up the immune cells just below the skin’s surface, inducing immunogenicity. Vaxxas says on its site that this can be used for two purposes:
Either reducing the dose required to achieve efficacy (100-fold reduction has been achieved in the mouse model when delivering Fluvax), and for amplifying the vaccine efficacy. Pre-clinical experiments have also shown the ability of the Nanopatch to remove or significantly reduce the amount of adjuvant required for effective vaccination.
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Vaxxas plans to apply its patented patch technology to develop new vaccine forms for influenza, polio, bacterial infections and cancer. It already has collaborations underway with Merck to develop its Nanopatch for undisclosed vaccine candidates.
The Series B round was led by Australian investment firm OneVentures. This round brings Vaxxas’ funding up to $33 million overall, which includes funding from the World Health Organization to evaluate the platform for polio vaccination.
