On December 20, 2018 Vaccitech, a clinical stage developer of a universal flu vaccine and other vaccine-related products, reported that it has received a joint £6m investment from a Korean biotech company, GeneMatrix, and venture capital and private equity firm, Korea Investment Partners (Press release, Vaccitech, DEC 20, 2018, View Source [SID1234532187]).
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Vaccitech and GeneMatrix also intend to enter into a formal collaborative agreement that will create business synergies between the companies through expansion of advanced vaccine development programs in Korea. GeneMatrix has recently begun internal vaccine development through a Zika virus vaccine program, backed by a government grant from Korea Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. Vaccitech will use the present investment to advance ongoing clinical projects and expand its research and development efforts.
Tom Evans, Chief Executive Officer at Vaccitech, said:
"The GeneMatrix team is experienced in the infectious disease areas, especially in chronic Hepatitis B and Human Papilloma virus, which are a major unmet medical need, and our vaccine programs in such areas will be quite synergistic."
Soo-OK Kim, Chief Executive Officer at GeneMatrix, added:
"We hope the combination of Vaccitech’s T-cell induction platform and GeneMatrix’s molecular and therapeutic platform will lead to better clinical development of advanced vaccines and new therapeutics."
Vaccitech is a spin-out from the University of Oxford and is commercialising decades of viral vector vaccine research conducted at the University’s Jenner Institute. The company’s proprietary T-cell induction platform comprises non-replicating viral vectors that induce some of the most potent cell-mediated immune responses reported in humans against target pathogens and cancer. Vaccitech has multiple vaccine and therapeutic products targeting indications across infectious diseases and oncology.