BOULDER, Colo., July 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — VitriVax, developer of a
novel stabilization and delivery platform for vaccines and therapeutics,
today announced it has closed its first institutional financing round
with Adjuvant Capital. Series A proceeds will be used to develop and
commercialize a technology with the potential to eliminate barriers to
global vaccine administration, extending their life-saving benefits to
underserved populations and compressing multidose regimens into a single
shot.
VitraVax’s Atomic Layering Thermostable Antigen and Adjuvant (ALTA™)
technology platform is designed to enable the development of vaccines
that can be transported and stored without complex refrigeration and
temperature monitoring requirements. The platform also aims to enable
full immunization with a single vaccination via timed release of
antigen/adjuvant complexes weeks or months after injection.
VitriVax was formed to advance this groundbreaking technology after
the concept was originally developed through a unique collaboration
between Dr. Robert Garcea and Dr. Theodore Randolph at the University of
Colorado, Boulder. They approached the challenges of vaccine delivery
from their backgrounds in two different academic disciplines. By
combining expertise in virology with chemical and biological engineering
principles, Dr. Garcea and Dr. Randolph enabled radical improvements to
vaccine thermostability and dosing.
The result of their work is the ALTA™ platform, which reformulates
vaccines for extended shelf life, allowing them to be easily transported
anywhere in the world, or stockpiled, with enormous potential benefit
to both routine immunization campaigns and emergency scenarios. VitraVax
uses a spray drying process to embed antigens and adjuvants in a
sugar-glass matrix, protecting them against thermal and chemical
degradation at temperatures as high as 70° Celsius (158° Fahrenheit) for
months, as demonstrated in multiple mouse studies using HPV capsomeres
as a model antigen, as well as in multiple studies with commercial
partners. This approach eliminates the need for cold storage and complex
distribution logistics, and reduces waste associated with vaccines that
have limited shelf lives.
ALTA™ also leverages atomic layer deposition (ALD) to apply
nanometer-thick, precision coatings of protective metal oxides on the
surface of antigen- and adjuvant-containing spray-dried microparticles.
This approach provides timed release of doses up to six months after
injection, also demonstrated in the same studies. If successfully
translated into humans, this approach would enable the incorporation of a
primary dose and booster doses in a single shot, and could potentially
facilitate co-administration of multiple vaccines at the same time.
“Reducing temperature requirements and collapsing multidose regimens
into a single touch point with the healthcare system has long been a
vaccine-delivery goal within the public health community. We believe the
ALTA™ platform has the potential to solve these problems at scale, and
we are excited to work with VitriVax to address these critical global
health challenges,” said Charlie Petty, co-founder and principal at
Adjuvant Capital. “As an infectious disease-focused investment firm that
works with its partners to develop important public health vaccines and
therapeutics, Adjuvant Capital has canvassed the globe for vaccine
platforms like ALTA™. We are thrilled to have met the VitraVax team at
such an important moment in the development of this technology.”
VitriVax has established a number of partnerships with clinical- and
commercial-stage pharmaceutical partners across a wide range of disease
areas and modalities in human and animal health. Prior to the funding
from Adjuvant Capital, the research leading to the ALTA™ platform had
been supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health,
the State of Colorado and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Concurrent with the financing, Adjuvant Capital’s Charlie Petty and Glenn Rockman have joined VitriVax’s board of directors.
“We could not be happier to partner with Adjuvant Capital as our lead
investor to help us maximize the impact of VitriVax and our
game-changing ALTA™ formulation platform,” said VitriVax CEO Matt
Raider. “Building on the early development of our technology at CU
Boulder, with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, we
are excited to work alongside Adjuvant and its partners to further
advance the platform and enable new and improved vaccines and
therapeutics for high-value public health challenges.”
About VitriVax
VitriVax is a Boulder, Colorado-
and Boston, Massachusetts-based biotechnology company working to
eliminate barriers to global vaccination. VitriVax partners with vaccine
developers to formulate their vaccines to be thermostable and delivered
in a single shot. Products formulated by the VitriVax ALTA™ platform
can be shipped globally without refrigeration or freezing, last for
years on the shelf, and only require one patient interaction to deliver
multiple doses. For more information, visit www.vitrivaxbio.com.
About Adjuvant Capital
Adjuvant is a New York-
and San Francisco-based life sciences investment fund built to
accelerate the development of new technologies for the world’s most
pressing public health challenges. Backed by prominent institutions
including Novartis, Merck, the International Finance Corporation, and
the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Adjuvant draws upon its global
network of scientists, public health experts, biopharmaceutical industry
veterans and international development experts to identify new
investment opportunities. Adjuvant invests in companies developing
promising new vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics for historically
overlooked indications targeting high-burden infectious diseases,
maternal and child health, and antimicrobial resistance, with a
commitment to make these interventions accessible to those who need them
most in low- and middle-income countries. For more information, visit www.adjuvantcapital.com