Dive Overview:
London-based biotech startup Vicebio has raised $100 million in Series B funding to continue developing a technology it claims could potentially produce an easy-to-manufacture, potent vaccine. The Series B round, announced Monday, was led by new backer TCGX, with participation from Goldman Sachs Alternatives, Avolo Ventures, founding investor Medixy and others. The new funding will help advance the company’s portfolio of respiratory infection vaccines, led by a combination respiratory syncytial virus and human metapneumovirus vaccine that recently began Phase 1 trials. According to Vicebio, its technology, called “molecular clamps,” has the ability to target viral proteins in their “pre-fusion” form before they attach to cells. In an interview with BioPharma Dive, CEO Emmanuel Hannon said the approach could generate greater immune responses and allow Vicebio to avoid tedious parts of the manufacturing process, making the startup’s vaccine more cost-effective to produce.
Dive Insights:
Despite the waning demand for COVID-19 vaccines, there remains a high demand for new weapons to fight respiratory infections.
For example, last year GSK, Pfizer and more recently Moderna brought to market vaccines for respiratory syncytial virus, a common virus that can cause severe illness in young children and the elderly. Big pharma is also investing heavily in vaccines aimed at improving existing vaccines for influenza and pneumococcal infections, and sees opportunities in combination vaccines as multiple lung infections overlap seasonally.
ViSeBio believes its technology can seize these opportunities and fill in the gaps of existing vaccines. The company is targeting a wide range of respiratory viruses for which there are no vaccines, including parainfluenza and human metapneumovirus. It also claims to be able to develop an RSV vaccine that has broader coverage than commercially available vaccines and can be delivered in a single prefilled syringe, rather than multiple vials that must be reconstituted before administration.
“The goal is to develop the most cost-effective vaccine that will receive priority recommendation from public health authorities,” Hannon told BioPharma Dive.
But research is still in its early stages: The first promising vaccine, VXB-241, won’t have phase 1 results until next year. The company also plans to use the money to advance clinical trials of a trivalent vaccine targeting respiratory syncytial virus, human metapneumovirus, and parainfluenza virus 3. But Hannon said that low production costs will allow the company to “save the significant capital that would typically be required very early in development.”
The current funding will put Vicebio on the brink of Phase 3 trials, he said.
TCGX Managing Partner Cariad Chester joined the firm’s board of directors in conjunction with the new round, along with Goldman Sachs Managing Director Colin Walsh and Avolo Ventures Partner Mark Chin.
