Google Ventures and others back universal flu vaccine firm Vaccitech

The Oxford University spin-out announced the series A funding round this week explaining it will use the money to develop its portfolio of vaccines, which includes a universal influenza vaccine in Phase II development.

Vaccitech CEO Tom Evans told us, “We know the technology induces an immune response in humans based on the various first-in-man studies we have conducted​.”

He added the firm plans to use the venture capital funding to pay for all corporate activities, including product development.

Technology​

The UK firm’s candidate vaccines consist of genes encoding pathogenic proteins loaded into adenovirus delivery vectors.

The adenoviruses Vaccitech uses - chimpanzee adenovirus Oxford 1 and 2 – are non-replicating.

The firm produces the viral vectors in the HEK293 cell line, which contains the adenoviral gene E1 that the viruses lack.  

Vaccination​

Adenoviral vectors are an area of significant interest for both gene therapy and vaccine developers. 

Spark’s eye disease treatment Luxturna – which in December​ became the first gene therapy to be approved by the US Food and Drug Administration FDA) – is delivered using a modified adenovirus.

Developers have also employed adenoviruses in the delivery of vaccines. However, the immune responses such products generate mean multiple administration can be problematic​.

Vaccitech’s approach to this problem is to use its adenovirus vectors to deliver the initial dose of vaccine and then switch to a separate, unrelated vector called Modified vaccinia Ankara (MVA).

Evans told us, “The foreign gene is encoded into both the non-replicating adenovirus and the non-replicating MVA,​” adding “The adenovirus is given first, and then boosted with the MVA.​”

In addition to the influenza vaccine, which is in Phase IIb study, Vaccitech’s portfolio includes vaccines for the prevention of Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), human papillomavirus (HPV​) and hepatitis B (HBV​).

It also has several anti-cancer vaccines in development.